As Long as Love is Strong
by lateeda18
Summary: How do you cope with relationships and keep it together when other things in life happen such as graduation, distance, or even a revolution? Mainly Stella/Brandon with a bit of Musa/Riven.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my newer version of my story "As Long As Love is Strong" To read the original go to my website. It is similar to it, but I have changed a lot of the plot of it. I hope everyone enjoys it!_

**Chapter 1- A Bittersweet day**

The sun slowly started to rise outside of the walls of Alfea. It crept through the curtains of Bloom and Flora's room. Bloom squinted her eyes trying to block out the bright sun. It was going to be a beautiful day, she could already tell that, but she still wasn't looking forward to it. As she started to sit up in her bead, she noticed Flora was still sleeping. Usually Flora was always awake before she was. She was sure Flora was as sad about the day ahead of them as she was. Bloom got out of her bed slowly, and stretched out her limbs, which were very sore from too much sleep. She went over to Flora's bed and woke her up.

"Oh dear, I must have overslept!" Flora said, slowly raising her head up.

"I think everyone did today." Bloom said. She sighed and decided she should wake up the rest of the girls. As always, Stella didn't get up when Bloom tried to get her up, and she refused. The other girls went down to eat breakfast, and Stella walked in shortly after them.

"Nice to see you're still normal today." Musa commented on Stella's lateness to breakfast.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" Stella asked.

"We all are a bit mopey today. It's really a bittersweet day." Tecna said. The girls were all quiet and stared down at their food. Each girl wasn't in the brightest mood, because it was the day of the Red Fountain Graduation Ceremony. The girls didn't want to watch their boyfriends graduate, and leave Red Fountain. Alfea would never feel the same again, the girls were so used to their male companions being there to go on missions with them, wearing their signature Red Fountain uniforms, that the girls actually liked on the guys, considering they showed their muscles off very well. The silence at the table was very sickening to Stella, who was used to the group being so happy.

"Gosh, don't everyone talk at once!" Stella said sarcastically.

"Stella, I'm not in the mood today." Musa said and got up from the table.

"What did I say now? I know it is going to be hard, but we need to be positive, save the sadness for the actual ceremony and reception tonight, right now I think we should go shopping to cheer us up!" Stella said.

"You know what girls? I think Stella is right. Lets go out and have some fun today!" Bloom said standing up.

"I could go for some retail therapy right now." Flora said, agreeing to going shopping. All the girls agreed and got Musa to go shopping.

"Is this dress okay for tonight? Or do you think it is too bright?" Stella asked holding up a bright orange sparkly knee length dress.

"I don't know, I think it is a bit too, informal for this formal gathering. Remember, all the guys' parents are going to be there tonight." Bloom reminded Stella.

"I suppose your right. Maybe be I should go with a more subtle dress." Stella said putting down the dress she was holding up, and picking up another dress that went down a little bit further, and was a navy color.

"I think that one is really pretty!" Flora said, admiring the dress.

"Can you just pick one already so we can get out of here?" Layla said sitting in the corner of the room on one of the benches.

"Will you stop being so grumpy? This is supposed to be a fun trip! You should try on some dresses!" Stella said.

"I don't need any more dresses! I already own 10, I don't see the point in buying a new dress for every occasion." Layla said, being her tomboyish self.

"Well I would like to look my best tonight for my snookums, it is the last time we will be seeing each other for a while, and I would really like to impress him." Stella said in her defense. Layla rolled her eyes and looked away. She loved her friends, but sometimes Stella could be really annoying with her antics. After another hour and a half of picking out a dress, the girls got back to Alfea, and it was already getting late. The girls got into their dresses, and rode a bus over to Red Fountain.

"I would like to welcome all of you to our Graduation celebrations tonight! We will start off with roll call, and after we are done we will have the reception in the court yard for all the family and friends of the graduates." Saladin announced to crowd. As every student in the class was called up, each girl was thinking the same thing, after that night, nothing would be the same again. After all the boys went up and got their diploma, Saladin walked back up to the podium.

"And now Ladies and Gentlemen, I now introduce to you, the Red Fountain class of 2008!" Saladin announced proudly. As soon as he finished his sentence, all the boys jumped up and were filled with excitement. They were then released to go talk to their families. The winx girls stood back since they didn't want to be too pushy, and of course their parents would want to talk to each other. Each girl slowly went over to their boyfriends crowd, and Layla stood next to Musa.

"I am kinda sad they will be gone, I know that I don't get along with them that well, but Sky and Brandon and Timmy are cool. Even Riven is okay sometimes." Layla commented.

"Yeah, I just wish that Riven wasn't so bottled up. I mean we are a couple, but I still feel kinda awkward around him, he is really quiet." Musa said.

"Maybe you should go talk to him now." Layla suggested.

"He is probably talking to his parents right now, I wouldn't want to intrude." Musa said.

"I don't think he is." Layla said as she nodded her head across the yard to where Riven was leaning against a tree away from everyone.

"I'll see you later Layla." Musa said, and Layla went to talk to the other boys.

Musa walked over to Riven who didn't notice she was there at first.

"Hi! I thought you would be talking to your parents." Musa said.

"Oh, hey Musa." Riven said, ignoring her statement about his parents.

"Where are your parents?" Musa asked, really curious to why he was standing there all alone. Riven shrugged his shoulders. Musa still was curious and wanted him to open up to her.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Musa asked him. Riven then slid down the tree into a sitting position. Musa sat down next to him and got closer to him. She put her hand on his arm and he didn't move.

"My mom left me when I was little. I haven't seen her since I was seven. And my dad, pssh, he probably doesn't even give a shit about me. I don't know where he is." Riven admitted. He had never told anyone that before, not even his room mates. Musa was very shocked he actually opened up to her.

"Oh my god Riven, I am so sorry. I didn't know." Musa said, truly feeling sorry for him. She thought she had it bad with her mom dying when she was so young, but Riven's mom just left, and his father didn't care.

"It's not like I need them anyway." Riven said trying to get off the topic. This was really hard for him to talk about, his parents had pretty much left him to grow up by himself on the streets, and he would never forgive them for that.

"Riven, you can talk to me, you know that." Musa said trying to make him understand that he could tell her anything.  


"I had nothing growing up, I had to steal food to eat, and clothes so I would have something to wear. But I was caught one time, and the owners of the house decided to send me here to teach me some kind of lesson. I guess it turned out of the better." Riven said, implying that he was glad was sent to Red Fountain.

"I'm really proud of you, you turned your entire life around and look at you now! You've graduated one of most famous schools in the Realm!" Musa said.

"Yeah, but I have no idea where to go from here. I don't know how to do anything else besides tactics and fighting. Coming to school was my life, now there is nothing." Riven explained and looked down at the ground. What he was saying was true. Going to Red Fountain was his life, he always looked forward to coming to school in the fall, because he would see Musa there too, now he would barely see her.

"We'll still see each other over the summer, and I hope you'll call me from time to time." Musa said. It was like she could read his mind. She was going to miss him too, she really enjoyed his company, sometimes the other girls and their boyfriends were sickening with their perfect relationship and their pretty boy facade, he didn't care much about his looks and he wasn't into the cheesy romantic scene.

"Yeah, I'll call a lot." Riven told her. Musa leaned over for a hug, she didn't want to lean in for a kiss and be turned down, since she wasn't sure of the status of their relationship, but she did know they were at least friends. But then as she started to get back up from their hug, he pulled her back, similar to how he had pulled her into a hug when they were going into Shadow Haunt, and kissed her. Musa was shocked at this, but she was ecstatic about it. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him, and she put her arms around his neck.

"Riven, I don't know what I'm going to do without you next year, I can't imagine it." Musa said while trying to get a break from kissing him. Riven kissed her again and stopped to talk.

"The best thing about coming here was you, and I don't want to loose you. I've never felt this way about anyone else before." Riven said between breaths.

"I promise we will spend time together, if you want you can come to my house for a while over the summer, for maybe a week or so." Musa suggested.

"As long as I'm with you." Riven said kissing her again. They continued kissing and had somehow managed to be laying on the ground wrapped up in each other.

"Ahem, guys, are you coming for the group picture or not?" Sky said with a big smile on his face. Musa jumped up first, embarrassed that Sky had just watched them make out with each other. Riven jumped up quickly after she did, and both said yes at the same time. Bloom was with sky, and started to walk with Musa over to the fountain where they would take the picture. Musa looked back at Riven and 

smiled. Her smile made something inside of Riven melt every time he saw it.

"It looks like you too are making progress!" Bloom said with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah, he really does like me, I think we are actually a couple now. I invited him over to my place for a week this summer." Musa said.

"He definitely likes you Musa! You two were just making out for a really long time, and this is Riven we are talking about." Bloom said.

"Well are we ready now?" Stella asked checking to see that everyone in the group was there. As soon as she was sure everyone was in the perfect spot, Timmy set the timer on the camera. Everyone made a funny face and had a funny pose for the picture, this was the last time they would all be together as a group for a long time.

"And now Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for the last dance of the night. If you have a partner, bring them out to the dance floor for one last dance." The DJ announced. All the couples went out for the last dance. Even Riven went out, much to Musa's surprise. As they danced, each couple said their good byes to each other. The song soon ended, but Brandon and Stella stayed on the dance floor, Stella had started to cry.

"Please don't cry Stella! What's the matter?" Brandon said while wiping some tears off of her face.

"Because you won't be right across the forest anymore! Eraklyon is so far away from here!" Stella said.

"That doesn't make a big difference, you can always call me, and I'll visit you a lot!" Brandon reassured her.

"Yeah, but if I wasn't so stupid, I would be graduating this year too, and then we could live together, what if we grow apart over the next year?" Stella said, crying even more. Brandon grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in her face.

"You're not stupid Stella! You're the brightest girl I have ever met! You were held back because of an accident, and that was really based on your personality, which is what I love best about you." Brandon said pulling her in for a hug. She rested her head on his chest and he stroked her hair.

"Your right, but I can't help but feel like I wasted time since I failed. I will miss you coming to rescue me! What if some random freshmen boy comes? I don't want him to come and rescue me!" Stella said starting to panic again.

"Stella, don't worry about it! Everyone at Red Fountain knows that we are together, and no one is going to try to change that. Even if someone does, it won't work." Brandon said.  


"I love you Brandon." Stella said to him plainly, but she really meant it.

"I love you too. We will hang out this summer, and next year. Don't worry about it. Now I think you need to be getting back to Alfea." Brandon said. They hugged and kissed. The girls boarded the bus back to Alfea, and took one last look back at their boyfriends. That would be the last time they would see them at Red Fountain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-An Invitation**

"Stella come on! You have to get up eventually!" Bloom yelled into Stella's room. Stella had laid in her bed the whole previous week, and wouldn't get up at all.

"I'll get up when I can see my snookums again!" Stella yelled back.

"Is she still in there?" Musa asked, coming out of her room.

"Yeah, I can't get her to come out." Bloom said.

"Hey Stel, wanna go shopping?" Musa asked.

"Yeah, I'll even let you pick out a dress for me!" Layla said, hoping this would excite Stella.

"No! I don't feel up to it at all!" Stella yelled back.

"Please come out! We should have a fun sleepover our last night here before we have to leave for our homes!" Flora said.

"As long as we don't leave the room!" Stella said, finally starting to cheer up.

"Good! I'll go out and get some goodies!" Flora said leaving the dorm. All the girls were happy with at least getting Stella out of her room, so they left her alone, which made Stella happy. She couldn't stand everyone trying to make her cheer up, because she knew nothing would. The only thing that would make her feel better would be seeing Brandon again. She stared at the picture of him on her dresser, and picked it up. Why did she feel so terrible about a boy? She had never felt this way before about any guy at all. She got up and looked at herself in the mirror and realized she looked really bad. "Just imagine Brandon is in the room, and you want to impress him!" Stella said to herself, trying to encourage herself to do her hair and get dressed in something good. But then she looked at the time and realized it was already the evening and there would be no point in getting fully dressed. She took a shower and got into a comfy pair of pjamas and left her room.

"Wow! So she still does exist!" Musa said while closing up her magazine.

"Haha very funny Musa." Stella said after sticking her tongue out at Musa.

"Flora should be back any minute, then we can get the party started!" Bloom said. She walked over and hugged her friend tightly. She knew she was having a hard time with all of this, and a girls night would be perfect to help everyone out.

After lounging around the couches for another ten minutes, Flora walked into the door with some 

snacks and a couple movies.

"Yay! Flora's back! Now we can get this show on the road!" Stella announced, her spirits getting higher.

The girls watched a movie, and then decided to just sit around and talk while eating a pizza they had ordered.

"So Stella, what really is bugging you?" Tecna asked Stella, breaking the silence.

"I just have felt so, sad. And I don't know why. I mean I know it is about Brandon, but I don't get why. I have never been this upset about any guy before." Stella told the girls.

"I think it is because you truly love him, and maybe you haven't actually loved any other boyfriends before." Flora suggested.

"I guess, but do you think he really loves me? I mean I know I'm the expert on guys here, but when it comes to being in love, I am not very good at the subject. What if he isn't in love with me too? There is no way to tell!" Stella said, with worry in her voice.

"You should just tell him how you feel, and if he feels the same way he will tell you." Bloom said.

"But what if I just tell him and he doesn't feel that way? Then I would have made a fool of myself!" Stella said.

"I've seen the way you two are together, I'm pretty sure you guys are meant to be together." Layla said.

"Thanks guys, you're the best!" Stella said while wiping a tear out of her eye. "But enough about me. What about you and Riven, Musa?" Stella asked, now curious about their new blossoming relationship.

"We talked a little in the past week, but not much. He has really opened up to me." Musa said.

"At that party it seemed like he really opened up to you." Stella said nudging Musa with her shoulder. Musa blushed thinking about her and Riven making out again. She actually loved thinking about it.

"Well I'm glad he finally decided to be with you, he is a pretty good pick!" Stella told Musa.

"Since when do you look at Riven?" Musa asked.

"Well come on, don't you ever look at other guys and think some are cute or sexy? Guys do it all the time, I don't see why girls can't do it. I mean I love Brandon, but it's all right to think other guys are hot." Stella commented.

"I guess I do, and yeah I do think that Riven is really hot." Musa said.

"I don't honestly care too much for guys." Layla said, entering the conversation.

"What about you and Nabu?" Bloom asked.

"We are a couple, but I still don't really feel the need to look at other guys, why waste my time?" Layla asked.

"But when they are hot guys, it really isn't a waste of time. Even Timmy is looking good lately!" Stella said looking over at Tecna. She had just taken a drink and then sprayed it out after hearing Timmy's name.

"What?" Tecna said after wiping her mouth off.

"I said I think Timmy is looking good lately. How are you guys doing?" Stella asked.

"I- well, we are… ummm… good? I mean we are close but we are taking it slow." Tecna said, uncomfortable with the subject. After she finished her sentence, her computer beeped and she opened it up.

"Hey! It's a video chat invitation from Sky!" Tecna said while opening it up. Bloom's eyes lit up when she knew she would be seeing Sky's face. The window opened up and you could see his face.

"Hi girls! How are you doing?" Sky asked.

"Oh just dandy Sky. Now why are you messaging us?" Stella asked. She wanted to get back to her girls night. Just then Brandon entered the screen and Stella screamed. "Snookums!!"

"Hey baby! I hope your doing okay!" Brandon said.

"I'm doing fine! What's the occasion?" Stella asked.

"Well, we wanted to invite all of you girls on a vacation! We are planning on going to Earth, hopefully Bloom knows some good places we can visit!." Sky explained

"Oh my goodness! I would love to go! I know the perfect place Sky! What about you girls?" Bloom asked the other girls.

"Is there good shopping?" Stella asked. "Yes! Pretty much everywhere there is good shopping!" Bloom said.

"I'm in then!" Stella said.

"Are the rest of the guys going?" Musa asked, hoping to spend some time with Riven.

"Yes, all of the guys are coming along too, but only if you guys come too, so I hope you guys can come!" Sky said.

Layla, Flora, and Tecna agreed to go, and they would be picked up right away the next morning to leave for Earth. Bloom was excited to be going back to Earth, and she was also happy she would be spending time with Sky, and she was glad the other girls would get to spend some time with their boy friends. It was going to be a fantastic month, and it would hopefully make everyone closer so they wouldn't grow apart in the following year.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3-Arriving on Earth**

That night all the girls packed all the things they wanted to bring with them to Earth, and got ready to go.

"I'm so excited to go back to Earth! I'll have to tell mom and dad that we're going to Italy!" Bloom told the other girls while packing the last of her things into her suitcase.

"I'm just glad to be spending time with Brandon finally!" Stella said.

'I'm really excited to see the kind of technology on Earth, I haven't been there for an actual vacation before!" Tecna said.

"Can someone help me close my suitcase?" Stella yelled while trying to sit on her suit case to close it. Layla came in and kicked the top of it so it would finally close.

"Thanks Layla! I always have a problem with that suit case!" Stella said after wiping off some sweat from her forehead.

"Well I think you should consider getting a new suitcase, or just not packing as many clothes." Layla suggested.

"I need all my clothes so I have some sort of selection every day to pick from!" Stella said.

"Hey, it looks like our transport is here!" Flora said coming back from the balcony.

"Do you girls need help getting your stuff?" Brandon said stepping off of the ship into the girls room.

"Snookums!" Stella said while running up to Brandon and throwing her arms around his neck.

"How have you been?" he asked Stella, even though he already knew the answer to his question.

"I'm doing better now that you're here!" She said before kissing him. Sky then walked out of the ship to start loading the girls' suitcases onto the ship.

"Wait, Sky I can just do a spell and you don't have to carry them all on." Nabu said coming out of the ship.

"Did you know he was coming?" Layla whispered to Bloom.

"Yeah, Sky told me just this morning, we were hoping to surprise you." Bloom told Layla.

"A little notice would have been appreciated!" Layla said. She then grabbed her suitcase and walked into the ship.

"Hi Layla." Nabu said. "Hi!" Layla said as she smiled at him, but she wasn't exactly happy to see him. She was glad they were going on vacation, but she wasn't comfortable with boys yet. She really did have a crush on him, but she had never liked a guy who liked her back, so she didn't know how to deal with the situation at all.

"What's wrong with her?" Sky asked, wondering why Layla seemed angry.

"Nothing, lets just go!!" Stella said.

Everyone got into the ship and sat down in the seats. Riven was at the controls of the ship next to Timmy. Musa was a bit nervous to approach him since everyone was around, she didn't know how he would act, so she just sat down in a seat kind of close to his, but far enough away that she wouldn't be right next to him. They would talk a lot once they got their though.

"Hey Timmy! How are you doing?" Tecna asked him after she walked up to the controls.

"Hi Tecna! I'm doing great! Since last week I was able to update the control system, and relax more now school is over." Timmy said getting up to hug Tecna.

"Ready for Takeoff Sky." Riven said, still not acknowledging Musa.

"I heard that some of the architecture there is really beautiful. We should check some of it out Flora." Helia said.

"I would love to, I really can't wait to go see some of the gardens there!" Flora said with excitement in her voice.

"I think some of the best music comes from Earth. I'm hoping to go to a concert of some sort while we're there!" Musa said, trying to break the silence in the room.

"So where are we even going?" Tecna asked Bloom hoping to set the coordinates.

"Well I have thought about it for a while, and I think that everyone will love New York City. There are tons of places to shop, there is Coney Island where there is a beach and an amusement park, and there is Broadway too." Bloom told everyone.

"Sounds like a great place! In order for our ship to not be seen by the people of Earth, we're going to land far away from the city and take a plane to the actual city." Sky said.

"So Riven, what do you want to do when we get there?" Musa asked, finally getting the courage to talk to Riven.

"I don't know, it doesn't matter much to me. Whatever you want to do is fine." Riven said, sounding a bit excited just to be with Musa.

"Well I was thinking about going to some concerts or something, I guess we'll just wait until we get there to plan something out." Musa said. She didn't even know what Riven liked to do, so she didn't want to force him into doing anything.

The flight seemed to last forever, and no one was comfortable sitting in the plane for such a long time. They finally got to Earth and got to a local airport to catch a commercial flight to New York. The girls were all happy for the change in transportation.

"So this is how people on Earth get around?" Tecna asked while inspecting pretty much every corner of the plane. She had tried to get into the cockpit to see the controls, but the pilots wouldn't let her.

"Yeah, it is really expensive these days because of the rising gas prices though, so my family hasn't been on one for a long time." Bloom said, feeling happy she could actually ride on an airplane.

"Well it seems, okay. Not the most advanced technology I have seen but better than I expected." Tecna said as she sat in her seat. She seemed pleased with their transportation. Each girl sat by their boyfriend because there were only two seats together on each side of the aisle.

"So are you surprised to see me Layla?" Nabu asked Layla, not sure if she was mad at him or not.

"Yeah, I really am." Layla said, looking out of the window at all the clouds. She didn't even know why she was angry, she just was. She wanted to have a fun vacation with her friends, not her boyfriend. But now she was stuck with him.

"So I was thinking we could see some sports games while we are there. I hear there are tons of sports on Earth." Nabu said, trying to keep Layla's interest. He put his arm around her and she shivered when he did, but he kept it there. "Please open up to me Layla. I thought we were getting along so well."

"We are, I just didn't expect you here. I'm not used to having someone to be my companion, I've always been so independent, and I'm not quite comfortable having someone who is always going to be by my side yet." Layla said.

"Oh, well when you need your space just tell me, but don't just let me out of your life, I really like you Layla." Nabu said, he seemed to understand.

"You mean your not mad that I want to be alone sometimes?" She asked, confused. Most guys would be 

mad if their girlfriend wanted to be left alone.

"No, in fact, that is one of the reasons I like you so much. Your not like other people, you don't need attention from me, not that I wouldn't give it to you, but I just don't want you being too independent and forgetting about me!" Nabu said. He leaned over and kissed her, and she kissed him back. She was glad they weren't mad at each other, and they could possibly enjoy this vacation. 2 seats in front of them Musa and Riven sat together, feeling kind of awkward.

"So what do you want to do in New York?" Musa asked, hoping to find out more about her boyfriend.

"I don't know, go to the gym, go to some sporting events maybe, if their teams are good though. What do you want to do?" Riven asked, grabbing Musa's hand. Musa blushed a little bit but let him grab her hand.

"Well, I was thinking about going to some musicals if there are any good ones that I wanna see there, or any concerts. Would you like to come with me to some of them?" Musa asked, hoping she could get Riven into coming to some musicals with her.

"It all depends on what musical it is, if I might like it then I suppose I'll come." Riven said.

"We're here! Look down everyone!" Bloom said!

Everyone looked down, and their mouths opened wide at the site of Manhattan.

"That is where we're going?" Stella asked in awe.

"Yup! Isn't it exciting?" Bloom said, hoping they would land soon so they could start their vacation.

"It's beautiful! Look at that statue!" Flora said, pointing at the statue of liberty. Everyone had a wide smile on their face, even Riven did.

After they landed they took separate taxi's to their hotel.

"O M Geee! Lets go to Times Square just to look around! Did you see all those stores there! I'm so glad I got the credit back on my credit cards!" Stella said after plopping down her suitcase and going over to the window to look out.

"Lets just get settled in first, then we can go walk around." Bloom said, getting into her room. They had gotten their rooms all on the same floor in the hotel, and the girls had adjoining rooms since there were only 3 beds in each room, the same with the guys.

"How is your room?" Tecna asked after walking into the room that Timmy, Nabu, and Helia would share.  


"It's really nice, although I have no idea what half the machinery in here is." Timmy said, looking over to the strange black box in the entertainment center, that was also close to a pot and another black box. Tecna walked over to it and investigated it.

"I believe that big box is their television system, I'm not sure what the others are though." Tecna said with a puzzled look on her face.

"The pot is a coffee pot, and the other box is called a microwave." Bloom said showing them how to work it. Tecna felt so embarrassed that she didn't know what some of the technology was, she just hoped that she would be able to recognize the rest of the stuff there.

"Oh! How neat….." Tecna said trailing off. Stella came running in the room.

"Come on guys! Let's go now!" She said really excitedly. Everyone finally got ready and headed out to Times Square. Everyone was amazed at it, and they really looked like tourists, taking pictures of everything there. Musa was so excited to see all the billboards for the different musicals, and to walk past the theaters of all the musicals, it made her feel so alive. She already had a long list of musicals she would be interested in seeing, just by the posters and lights. Everyone else was just amazed at how big it was, they didn't have anything like this in Magix at all. They kept walking and Stella bumped into someone while taking pictures.

"Oops! I'm so sorry!" She said looking at the man, but he was practically naked! _(1)_

"Hey little lady!" He said, holding his guitar over himself.

"Ahh… hey." Stella said looking back at him, was he seriously standing there in the middle of the city naked?

"Any song requests?" He asked as he looked up at the group of friends.

"Um, I don't know any current songs sorry!" Bloom said nervously.

"All right then! You guys enjoy New York! He started to turn around and they all turned their heads because they didn't want to see his buttocks, but then noticed he was wearing a very small white pair of underwear.

"All right, that was a little freaky!" Musa said as they walked away from the area back to the hotel.

"I have seen that guy on the news before, that is the Naked Cowboy! I must admit, there are some very strange people here on Earth, but at least there are no witches or evil people here to try and hurt us." 

Bloom said. The friends laughed and got back to the hotel. Everyone went to sleep, feeling great about what they would do over the next weeks in New York.

_When I was in NYC we saw the "Naked Cowboy" and our teachers quickly led us away from him, my friends and I were cracking up so I had to include it in here. It is a bit random, but oh well._

_Well I hope everyone enjoyed that chapter! I know it was kinda boring, but it was mostly a filler one, and it kinda went fast, but I'm not too good at writing the filler ones. But there will be romance coming up soon!_

_lateeda18_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4-First Day Plans**

Musa woke up first out of all the girls, and she wasn't sure if the guys were awake yet, but she didn't want to be the one to go over to their room first. She decided she was going to get ready early before any of the other girls could hog the bathroom. After she was done taking her shower and getting dressed she decided to find out more information about all the musicals out She looked into a few and decided on the ones she liked, she didn't think Riven would enjoy any of the ones she wanted to see though. She picked out Rent, Wicked, Jersey Boys, Legally Blond (she thought she would take Stella to see that, since by the description she thought Stella would really enjoy it.) and Spring Awakening_.(1)_ It was a lot to see, but she didn't know what else she was going to do there. She realized she probably wouldn't be spending too much time with Riven since all the stuff she wanted to do, he wouldn't be interested in seeing. Just as she was closing her lap top the door opened up a tiny bit.

"Is anyone awake in there?" A familiar voice said, without opening the door completely.

"Yeah, I am." Musa said as she put her lap top away and walked towards the door. Riven was standing on the outside of it. She came out and closed the door behind her.

"So what's up?" Musa asked him.

"I was thinking we could go do something today, just take a walk in the park or something, that is unless you had something else planned." Riven said.

"That sounds great! I don't have anything going yet, but now I do! Oh! And while you're here, I want you to look at a few musicals I want to see. I would really like if you would come to some of them, but you don't have to if you don't want to." Musa said.

"Um, sure." Riven said, not really excited about it, but he was willing to go anywhere with Musa.

Musa ran back into the room and got her lap top, still without waking up any of the other girls. Usually she was the last one awake. The time difference must have had more of an effect on them than it did on her. She brought her lap top out into the hall way where Riven was still standing.

"Lets go down to the lobby so we aren't blocking the hall way or waking up anyone." Musa said. They both took the elevator down and didn't say a word to each other. Musa found it a bit awkward but wasn't too worried about it. Once they got to the lobby they found a table and sat down.

"Now I thought you may enjoy Rent _(2)_, I think it sounds pretty hip and current. What do you think of it?" Musa asked Riven as he read the webpage and listened to some of the music from it.

"It doesn't sound too bad, it actually looks worth seeing." Riven said truthfully. He actually did think it would be cool to see, especially if he was going with Musa to go see it.

"I was also thinking you might enjoy Spring Awakening. It has a similar sound to Rent, but it is still original." Musa said after going to that website and letting Riven look at it.

"Sounds cool. When are you thinking about seeing these?" Riven asked.

"I have no clue, it doesn't matter when to me. Whenever you're free is fine." Musa said.

Just then Stella, Bloom, Timmy, and Helia walked into the room.

"Oh there you two are! We were wondering where you went!" Stella said as she pulled up a chair to their table. The others did the same and sat down.

"We didn't want to wake you guys so we came down here." Musa said.

"Sure you did. Well any ways, I am so in for a shopping spree today. Who wants to come along?" Stella asked, even though she knew the guys wouldn't volunteer to come.

"I can't come, Riven and I are going out on a date today." Musa said confidently.

"Oh la la, where are you going to take her Riven?" Stella asked with curiosity.

"I was thinking just waking around Central Park." Riven said, not really wanting to talk about it.

"That sounds fun! I hope you guys have a great time! I think if we are going to get shopping we should get going soon here Stel. Lets get the other girls and see if they're coming." Bloom said. The girls got up and went back to the room.

"When do you want to go Riven?" Musa asked.

"I was thinking we could go in an hour maybe?" Riven said, hoping that time was okay with her.

"Sure! I'll meet you back down here then." Musa said as she got up and left.

After she left the guys still stayed back and talked for a while.

"So are you actually planning this out, or just taking it as it comes?" Helia asked

"I have something planned, but I'm mostly taking it as it comes." Riven replied.

"I think you should plan the entire thing out, that way it won't be screwed up in any way." Timmy suggested.

"Oh yeah? Do you always plan stuff out Tim? Because if you do, it obviously hasn't gotten you and Tecna very far in your relationship." Riven said, getting annoyed with this conversation.

"I don't see you and Musa very close to each other at all." Timmy mumbled, offended by Riven's comment. He stared down at his shoes because he hated when the guys brought up his not so strong relationship with Tecna.

"Guys, lets stop. It doesn't really matter how you handle the date, at least your taking her on a date now right?" Helia said, trying to avoid conflict.

"Yeah, whatever." Riven said as he got up quickly and left the room.

"I hope Musa is able to bring out some good in him, because I get sick of his attitude sometimes." Timmy said after he left.

"I'm sure there is good in him, he just has a hard time admitting it. But any ways, I think we have other stuff to worry about now." Helia said as he turned his attention to the doors where Flora and Tecna walked in.

"Hey Timmy! Did you sleep well?" Tecna asked.

"Yeah, I did! How about you?" Timmy asked.

"Great! We are going to head out shopping with Stella here in a while. What are you guys going to do?" Tecna asked.

"I was thinking about swimming for a while in the pool here, but mostly just relaxing today. I'm not in the mood for going out today." Helia said.

"That sounds fun! We will be back for dinner here though." Flora said.

"You girls have fun shopping!" Timmy said as he and Helia got up and left.

After they left the rest of the girls, except Musa, met in the Lobby and left to go shopping. Musa was up in her room wondering what to wear. She had no clue what she should wear to a park. All she knew was that it was hot outside, so there would be no jeans and arm warmers. She really wished that Stella was there to help her out, but knowing Stella, she probably would have been more of a headache than a help. Musa finally settled on a pair of shorts and a blue tank top to wear. She decided to also redo her hair so it wasn't in two long ponytails, just in one on the back of her head. She found that to be a lot more cooling than her previous hair style. Maybe it was just Musa, but it was very hot on Earth, and Musa was not used to it at all. After several glances into the mirror, Musa was satisfied with her look and left the room. Once she got into the lobby Riven was already there, and his eyes widened as she entered the room. She looked incredible, he hadn't seen her ever show that much skin before. He then got up to go to her and she started walking towards him.

"So are you ready?" Musa asked him, looking at his clothes, he was wearing the same pants and shirt he had been wearing earlier that day, and she was surprised he hadn't at least changed into shorts.

"Yeah, lets go." Riven said as he started to turn around towards the door. Musa followed him, feeling really awkward. What in the world would she talk about with Riven? It was obvious that they both really liked each other, but sometimes Riven could really act like he didn't care about her at all. One minute he is sharing his deepest feelings with her, the next he is speechless and awkward.

_(1) I'm not too sure myself about the musicals out on Broadway now, but these are ones that I want to see so I jus threw them in there._

_(2)Rent is one of my favorite Musicals, and I thought that Musa would like the music in it a lot, so I put that one in there. _

_Okay I hope everyone enjoyed that chapter! I know it isn't much but I think everyone will really like the next chapter, it has Musa and Riven's big date in it! Thanks for reading!_

_lateeda18_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5-Extreme Shopping and a Date**

In the cab Musa noticed that they had just passed Central Park, which is where she thought they were going for their date.

"I thought you said we were going to Central park?" Musa said.

"I changed the plans. I figured that it would be really crowded there." Riven said. He turned his head to then look out the window at the buildings passing by. It really was different being in a huge city on Earth than being in Magix. There were no hovering cars, no leva bikes, no one doing magic to change their food around at restaurants, and there were also no witches lurking around corners there.

"Oh okay." Musa said. She wasn't sure that going on this date was a good idea now. She looked out the window since she figured that she wouldn't get much more out of Riven. She wondered what the winx girls were doing at that moment, and sighed as she leaned her head against the window. Why did she have to fall for the guy who had little to no emotions for anything or anyone?

In Times Square the winx girls were hitting every shop they could. Stella was holding countless bags and was in full concentration to hit every store there.

"Come on Stella! You have your hands full, we have ours full, and we have plenty of time to come back in the next couple of weeks." Bloom said as she stopped in the middle of the side walk to give her arms a break. Stella had gotten the other girls to carry some of her shopping bags, and the girls also had some of their own bags to carry.

"Only 2 more stores girls I promise!" Stella said as she walked into the next store.

"She said that 5 stores ago!" Tecna said as she picked her bags back up and followed Stella into the store.

"Why are you guys even toting her stuff around for her? You should have just refused." Layla said as she snapped a picture of one of the sky scrapers. She had refused to hold any of Stella's bags, and only hold her own. She had a few, but not many. She was too busy taking pictures and soaking in the city.

"Because I didn't think she would have this many!" Bloom said. She sighed and heaved the bags into the store. Flora followed along while struggling with bags herself, and Layla walked in after her.

After 3 more stores, the girls finally convinced Stella to stop shopping and they called 2 cabs. The girls were exhausted, and they had spent at least 5 hours shopping. It didn't help that all the guys seemed to be right there in the lobby when they got back, and they seemed to enjoy their tired expressions.

"Can shopping really be that hard?" Sky said as he came out and chuckled. The rest of the guys followed him and they stood there. Bloom shot him a dirty look. She was not in the mood for her boyfriend to be cracking jokes.

"Well when you're with miss-I-have-to-go-to-every-store-in-the-two-block-radius it does take a long time." Layla said. She also didn't want to hear snide remarks from the guys. She would love to see them go out shopping with Stella for 5 hours. She then took out her 4 small bags and walked into the hotel without saying a word to Nabu. Nabu looked at her with a confused look, and followed her in.

"Well don't just stand there boys! Come help unload all these!" Stella said as she continued to bags out of the car. The guys came to the cars and helped unload the bags and take them into the hotel, back up to their room.

"How are you intending to take all this back to Solaria sweetie?" Brandon asked, worried about the size of Stella's suitcase on the trip back.

"Magic dahling!" Stella said wittily. "Just put the bags down in here and I'll magically organize them and put them away, they won't take up too much space!" Stella said as she opened the door to her, Bloom, and Flora's room. She was the happiest out of the group that on summer vacation they could use magic whenever they wanted to.

"Whew! That was sure a load!" Timmy said as he put down the bags he was carrying. He didn't want to carry much since he didn't have as much muscle as the other guys did, and he didn't want Tecna seeing that.

"All I want now is a nice bubble bath!" Flora said as she flopped down on her bead.

"Are you guys still dining with us tonight?" Sky asked. He really wanted to have the girls eat with the, since they had been gone the whole day.

"Yeah, we just need some time to rest, is an hour okay?" Bloom asked.

"Sure, we can wait." Helia said. He also looked forward to dining with Flora. They hadn't talked much since they had graduated.

All the way across the city, Riven and Musa had a picnic lunch at the park. Riven had packed it himself, with the help of Flora and Stella apparently, and they had talked about a lot of things.

"So wait, your father actually said that at a concert?" Riven said trying to get the story Musa was saying. He was laughing too hard to actually hear her. Just hearing her voice was intoxicating to him.

"Yeah, he just got right up and said that he was really a huge fan of country music in front of a screaming crowd of heavy metal fans. They just stared at him with wide open eyes, but then he strummed a few intense chords and he said it was all a joke. At first I was so scared for him, but then I realized it was a joke and I cracked up." Musa said as she started to remember the fond memory. That was when her mother was still alive, one of the happier times of her life. An awkward silence followed that, and Musa had noticed that had happened a lot that afternoon, but wasn't sure how to avoid it. At least Riven was actually talking to her.

"So what do you want to do now? We've finished our meal and talked about everything under the sun, especially because the sun is starting to go down." Musa said, noticing the sun was slowly descending.

"Do you just want to go for a walk?" Riven said as he got up. He reached his hand down towards Musa to help her up, and she gladly accepted it. When she was standing up, he didn't let go of her hand and she was perfectly content with that. They walked around the park for a while and they found a small fountain.

"My parents once took me here when I was very little, before they started doing drugs and shit like that. My mom used to tell me this was a magical lake and anyone who swam in it would be blessed." Riven said as he kneeled down and put his finger in the water. He looked at his reflection the water and thought back to those early days, when everything was, normal. "Obviously that wasn't true" Riven said as he then backed away from the water.

"Riven, I'm really sorry about your parents. I mean I know that it hurts to not have one parent, but I can't imagine what it feels like to not have had anyone love you growing up." Musa said. She thought about what her life would have been like if her father hadn't been there for her while she was growing up.

"Musa, I really do like you, but it's just hard for me to actually show it since I never had anyone showing me love when I was growing up, I hope you can understand that." Riven said as he pulled Musa closer to him.

"As long as I know you love me, and that I'm yours, I'm fine with it Riven. I don't need to be constantly told that you love me, I just need you to not always be so stiff and so… I don't know, feeling like you need to be alone. Because you don't need to be alone, I'm here for you." Musa said. Riven then grabbed her face and they kissed. The 

sky was dark and they couldn't see each other very well, but they didn't need help seeing. They pulled away from each other, and then Riven got an idea.

"What do you think of skinny dipping?" Riven asked as he looked into the lake.

"What? Are you serious? Here?" Musa asked. She didn't directly answer the question, because in a way she wanted to do it, she would get to see Riven with his shirt off, and she didn't have to look at the rest of she didn't want to.

"Yeah I'm serious. No one is around. Plus it is too dark out for us to see each other if that's what you're worried about." Riven said. Musa wondered what she should do, should she give into her passions and agree, or should she not do it. Tecna would say the logical thing to do would be to not do it, they would definitely get caught knowing their luck. But Stella would go for it, it was a great chance for her to see Riven's muscular body, one of the many turn ons for Musa.

"Oh all right." Musa said. She started to strip off her clothes and before she knew it Riven was already in the water, which is not how she wanted it to happen. Now he could just look up at her any time he wanted, and she wouldn't be able to see him. It's not that she was self conscious about her body, but she had never really done this kind of thing before, or been this open with a boy.

"Come on in! It's not too cold!" Riven shouted from the middle of the lake. Musa slipped off her bra and underwear and slowly stepped into the water. She only got into the water halfway before finally deciding to just go in all the way. She put her head under the water and came up for air and found Riven right there next to her.

"Oh! You scared me! I didn't know you were right there!" Musa said. Their legs brushed against each other and at first it was uncomfortable, but Musa soon got used to it.

"You hair looks really beautiful when you just let it down, you should leave it down some time." Riven said, commenting on his girlfriends long blue hair. The moon shined on it and it was gorgeous. He got closer to her and they kissed as he stroked her hair. Musa tried to keep her body far away from his other than their faces, since she didn't want to go too far with Riven yet, but they to get closer without the two knowing. Eventually it ended up with Riven's arms around Musa's back and Musa's hands on his chest. He was incredibly fit, a fine feature that Musa adored on Riven. Her legs got wrapped around him and all of a sudden they heard voices.

"Hey! Is anyone in there?!" Someone shouted. The two lovers looked up and saw bright lights coming towards them.

"Shit! How are we going to get out of here in clothes?" Musa said, now realized she should have never done this.

"I don't know. Can you hold your breath?" Riven asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Musa replied.

"Then we're going under." Riven said. He let Musa take in a deep breath and they went under the water. Musa used her magic to form some kind of bubble around them that had air in it, and was invisible to people without magic. They saw the too men above the surface shining lights in the water.

"I see clothes but there is definitely no one in there." The one man said.

"What should we do with them?" The other man said. They looked like they were police patrolling the ground.

"Well do we really want naked people running around the park? Leave them here! If they aren't gone by morning we'll come pick them up." The first officer said. After one more look at the lake the officers left. Once they were gone for ten minutes Musa finally raised herself and Riven to the surface.

"That was really close. I think we should go now." Musa said. They had been pretty quiet the whole time in her magical orb, considering they were both naked and it was a bit awkward with two men standing right above them, even if they couldn't see them.

"Yeah, you're right. You can use the picnic blanket to dry off." Riven said as he got up out of the water and put on his boxers and pants. He left his shirt off, hoping to dry off some. He also knew Musa loved his chest, and he wanted to impress her still. He looked away as Musa dried off some and got her clothes back on.

"Do you know what time it is?" Musa asked as she attempted to dry off her long hair.

"It's almost ten. We should be getting back to the hotel now, they're probably wondering where we are." Riven said. Musa walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. She reached over and kissed him on the cheek, almost showing him she was done changing and it was okay for him to look now.

Riven put his shirt back on and they caught a cab that would take them back to the hotel. The car ride back was really different than the one to the park.

"So your parents actually took you to Earth before?" Musa asked. She had never known that Riven had been to Earth before. She thought that maybe he would have mentioned it after Sky announced that they were going there for vacation.

"Yeah, they toured around the whole planet, in fact I was born and conceived here. We stayed in many different countries, but when I was 6 they moved back to my home planet. I have no clue what we were doing here, but we were here." Riven said. He remembered that in his childhood he was confused about his true origins. He lived the first six years of his life on Earth, so he naturally thought that was where he was from, but then one day his parents went back to his "real home" where only 3 years later his family fell apart and his mother left him and his father.

"That is really interesting! Even with all the touring my father does we have never been to Earth before, since his songs aren't known here at all so it would be weird coming here for concerts I guess." Musa explained. They then arrived at the hotel and got up to their rooms. As they both got out their keys and started to unlock the door, they turned back to each other and shared one last kiss before going to bed.

"Good night Riven, tonight was really amazing. I love you." Musa said sincerely.

"Yeah, it was, thanks for coming along." Riven said. He kissed Musa one last time and then they separated and walked into their separate rooms. Even though he didn't say that he loved her, Musa knew that he really did love her. She closed the door and wanted to jump around the room she was filled with so much joy, but she didn't want to wake Tecna and Layla, so she settled for a small squeal into her pillow and slowly drifted off into sleep.

In the room across the hall Riven laid looking up at the ceiling. Helia was asleep so he had no one to talk to, even though he really didn't want to talk. He was so happy he had Musa as a girlfriend, she was really understanding of his position, most other girls really hated that he wouldn't say "I love you" a lot and his relationships had all fallen apart. But with Musa, she understood and she was perfect. He thought of her smile and smiled himself and fell asleep.

_I know it was a lot of Musa and Riven, but in my original version the story was based on them and Stella & Brandon. However there will be moments for the other couples in time, each one will get their own date in time! Thanks for reading!_

_lateeda18_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- An Unofficial Goodbye**

A knock on the door suddenly interrupted Flora's dream, waking her up. At first she was unsure of what was going on, but quickly realized that she was awake and someone was at the door. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was going to get up, and realized she had been the only one who had heard it. Another knock came and Flora yelled out "I'll be right there!" She pulled her covers off of herself and quickly put her hair up since she didn't have time to brush it out. She opened the door and a doorman stood there in a suit.

"Is there a Miss Flora in this room?" He asked without even looking at Flora. He seemed to be looking into space.

"Yeah, I'm Flora." Flora replied, confused at what was going on.

"I have a message for you." The man said. He pulled out a small rolled up piece of paper and gave it to her. He then walked away towards the elevator. Flora was confused but she closed the door and went back to her bed. She opened up the piece of paper and someone had written her a beautiful note in calligraphy. It read:

_Dear Flora,_

_I have some urgent news, please come meet me in the lobby at 5 am. It is important._

_Your love,_

_Helia_

Flora turned her head and looked at the alarm clock. She didn't even realize it, but it was 4 am in the morning! What could be so urgent that he couldn't wait until a decent hour to talk to her? Flora was a bit mad because she really wanted to be able to catch up on all the sleep she lost during the school year, but then she realized that Helia said it was something urgent. She laid back down and stared at the ceiling for a while, replaying her last encounter with him. They were the newest couple besides Layla and Nabu, and they weren't like the other couples. The other couples seemed to have no problem kissing each other in front of the group, yet Flora always felt nervous about just holding hands with Helia around other people. She was so new at dating, she was nervous about everything. Most people probably looked at them and thought that maybe they were just close friends, or even brother and sister since they rarely were caught in public kissing. Time went by fast and Flora soon realized that it was already 4:30 and she had better get ready. She wasn't in the mood to take a show just then so she brushed her hair and did a quick hair cleaning spell to make it look like she had washed it. She slowly walked down the hallway once she got to the lobby. She searched the room for her long haired boyfriend, and then spotted him with his luggage at his feet.

"Hi! I'm glad you got my message. The doorman was a bit grouchy when I asked him to deliver it." Helia said.

"Well this is a pretty early hour in the morning. So what's really urgent?" Flora asked.

Helia grabbed Flora's hands and sat down, pulling Flora to the seat right next to him.

"Well, my grandmother has become very ill, and my grandfather said she might not make it through the night. He called me just 2 hours ago so I quickly packed and wrote you and the guys a note. I wanted to tell you in person though." Helia said.

"Oh Helia, I'm so sorry. I wish you could stay, we haven't gotten to spend any time together. But I understand, you need to be with your grandmother." Flora said. She was a bit sad that he was leaving, she really wanted to go on a romantic date with him before he went back home. She didn't know when she would be seeing him next, it probably wouldn't be for a very long time.

"Me too, but I'm glad you understand. I'm sure we'll see each other very soon. I promise to write updating you about her." Helia said, almost as if he could read her mind.

"That would be lovely. Well have a nice trip." Flora said, not sure of what to say next. They were both still sitting, but Helia decided that was probably his cue to leave so he got up. Flora then stood up so she didn't have to look straight up at him to talk to him. They hugged and Flora wasn't sure if she should kiss him or not. Maybe a hug was all that was needed at that moment. But Helia needed more than a hug. Once Flora let go Helia put his hands on her chin and brought her face closer to his and kissed her. Flora kissed him back and wasn't even embarrassed about it, even though she was certain the people at the front desk were staring at them.

"I love you Flora, and I won't forget about you this summer." Helia said after letting go of her.

"I love you too, I promise I'll write back and tell you how things go here." Flora said. Helia grabbed his suitcase and headed out to the taxi. Flora waved goodbye and blew him a kiss through the window. Helia waved from inside the taxi and it drove off out of sight.

Flora decided not to go back up to her room, but instead to go to the lounge outside of the pool to just sit outside for a while. The sun was slowly coming up and it was a beautiful sight, one that she wished she would have been able to share with Helia before he left. She sat back on one of the lounge chairs and put her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. She was really sad that all of the other girls would get to share dates and special moments with their boyfriends on this vacation, while she would be all alone again, just like it had been her freshman year at Alfea. She suddenly felt another piece of paper rolled up in her pocket and opened it up. It was written in calligraphy and it said:

_Flora how I will miss you  
and how I will kiss you  
whenever we meet,  
after we have not seen each other  
in such a long time,  
I will think about you night and day  
wishing you were with me!  
Flora how I will miss you  
and how I will kiss you!_

Flora automatically knew it was from Helia, and she felt her eyes welling up with tears. She brushed the water away from her eyes, and realized that she wasn't missing out on anything. This was just going to make their relationship stronger, and they would have a long time to have special moments together.

* * *

Later in the afternoon Tecna and Timmy were together enjoying the afternoon walking around the city just talking and enjoying the sights.

"It's pretty interesting to see some of this technology here, some of it is so much more advanced than it is in Magix, yet some of it is ancient." Tecna described as she looked at an ipod in the apple store.

"I'm surprised no one thought of something like this in Magix, it is such a neat invention!" Timmy said as he looked through a sample ipod. There was nothing like that in Magix, they still relied on CD's and sometimes even records to play music. Tecna had definitely heard of downloadable music on the internet, but no device that would hold all of your songs existed in Magix.

"I'm definitely getting one of these!" Tecna said as she pointed to a purple ipod.

"I think I'm going to get one too. I like this green one here." Timmy said as he pointed to a green ipod nano in the case.

The two purchased their ipods and headed out of the store, into the toy store FAO Schwartz. There they played with many of the toys, having a fun time. As Tecna pranced around on the big toy piano she felt great. She looked over to her side and saw Timmy slip and fall. She started cracking up and because she was cracking up she also fell, making a loud noise as she landed on one of the keys. Timmy crawled over to her and started laughing as well. Tecna felt like a little kid again. She was so happy with her life at this point, nothing could go wrong. She had a perfect boyfriend who was serious about their relationship, great friends, and best of all, no evil witches or wizards to fight against at the moment. Timmy leaned down and kissed Tecna softly. As Tecna lifted her head Timmy's hand slipped and landed on another key, making Tecna jump out of the kiss. They both started laughing and got up, seeing as there was a long line waiting to play on the piano, and many of the people were getting impatient. They put their shoes back on and headed back to the hotel.

"So did you know that Helia left early this morning?" Timmy asked Tecna as they walked back to the hotel.

"No I didn't, why did he leave?" Tecna asked. She didn't have any knowledge of Helia leaving.

"I think he said something about his grandmother being ill? All he did was leave us a note and didn't even say goodbye." Timmy said.

"Well maybe he was in a hurry to see his grandmother. Maybe he'll even come back if she gets better quickly." Tecna said as she pushed the door to the hotel lobby open.

"Who knows, but we can still have fun!" Timmy said. He put his arm around Tecna's waist and they walked up to their rooms together.

* * *

_I know this chapter is a bit short, but I wanted to get in some moments for the other couples. This story is mainly about Stella and Brandon so we will be getting to them in the next chapter. This will probably be the only Tecna and Timmy moment in this story (sorry Tecna and Timmy fans!), but there will be a bit more of Helia and Flora later on. Anyways, thanks for reading!_

_lateeda18_


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry for such a long break! School got crazy and now I'm on winter break so hopefully I can finish the story soon! Again, my apologies for the long break!_

* * *

**Chapter 7-Parting Ways**

Time flies by when you're having fun, and that is just what happened to the winx girls and the specialists while on their vacation. Soon they had pretty much seen the entire city and grew bored of just staying in the hotel, so they decided to leave the next day.

"This was a great vacation! But I can't wait to go home and check on my plants!" Flora exclaimed as she packed away her pink floral dress.

"It'll be weird going back home! I've gotten so used to living on earth!" Musa said. She was already done packing but she decided that she would help out any of her friends if they needed it, but they seemed to have everything under control. Just then Stella walked into the room. She was the only one who hadn't packed any of her things yet.

"Don't you think you should get started on packing Stel? Your wardrobe is the biggest out of all of ours." Layla said without looking up from organizing her lotions and perfumes.

"I will do it tomorrow morning." Stella said as she flopped down on the bed next to Musa.

"We are leaving pretty early in the morning, and by the time you wake up and get ready there won't be time to pack!" Bloom said.

"Well then I'll start it later. I don't want to think about leaving yet." Stella said.

"You're going to have to think about it sooner or later. We leave in less than twenty-four hours!" Tecna said.

"Yeah I know, I know. I just don't want to leave and think about leaving Brandon behind." Stella said.

"Is that what's bugging you?" Bloom said.

"Yeah, I mean I just don't know how often I will get to see him. Like while we've been here I've been able to see him every day, but now I won't be able to see him probably for a month and then we have to go back to Alfea! I won't see him at all! How will I be able to bear it?" Stella asked.

"We all have to go through that Stel." Musa said as she rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that Stella was complaining about not seeing Brandon, when Musa wouldn't be able to see Riven that much either.

"But I'm scared for our relationship! What if he tries to leave me or cheat on me because we won't see each other?" Stella asked. She was starting to get panicked.

"That's not going to happen. Just stop flipping out and pack your stuff." Layla said as she shoved her suitcase closed and zipped it up. Stella got up, crossed her arms, and went to the adjoining room where her stuff was and slammed the door. None of her friends seemed to be able to understand the kind of pain she was going through. She had never loved a boy as much as she loved Brandon before and she was so afraid to lose him. She couldn't imagine life without him. It's true that she was a flirt, but ever since being with Brandon she hasn't felt the need to flirt with other guys, because she truly believed he was the one for her, but did he feel that way?

* * *

The next morning everyone met outside of the hotel to catch a cab to get a plane back to Magix, and from there they would all part ways. Stella wore sun glasses because her eyes had bags under them from being up so late and packing. She had also done a little crying but she wouldn't let any of her friends know that. She had to show that she was strong and could handle a little bit of stress on her relationship.

The whole plane ride everyone talked like everything was normal but Stella decided to catch up on some sleep. She didn't want Brandon to know about what was going on in her mind, because if he didn't feel the same way then that would make her look obsessed. If she let herself talk to him, he would easily tell that something was wrong and she would have to explain it all.

After a few long hours of sitting they finally arrived in Magix. Each girl and boy parted ways and left on a transport back to their own home realm. Stella and Brandon were one of the last ones to leave.

"I'm going to go get something from the snack machines, do you want anything?" Sky asked as he got up to leave.

"No, I'm fine. What about you Stel? Are you hungry?" Brandon asked as he took her hand.

"No, I'm not. Thanks anyways." Stella said as she laid her head back on the bench she was sitting on.

"What's wrong sweetie? You seem kinda out of it today." Brandon asked as he stroked her hand.

"Just a long night, that's all. I had lots of stuff to pack." Stella said. Over the loud speaker came a booming voice. "Transport to Solaria leaves in 5 min. Please board now!"

"Well that's my cue." Stella said as she began to get up. Brandon got up after her and went to take off her glasses.

"I'd rather you not darling, I don't look so good today." Stella said as she stopped his hand before it reached her glasses. He put his hand on her cheek and felt her soft skin. This made a fire burn inside Stella and she wanted to kiss him so badly, but doing that would just hurt her even more. She took his hand in hers and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Do you want me to call you when I get home?" Stella asked him as she picked up her carry on bag.

"Nah, I'll call you because I probably won't get home for a while." Brandon said.

"Okay, then, well I'll talk to you then." Stella said. She then walked away onto the transport and looked out the window. Brandon waved to her and she waved back, and that would be the last time they would see each other for more than a month.

"What was that about?" Sky asked. Sky had just reappeared and had seen the little interaction between Brandon and Stella. They had always been the couple who you couldn't keep off of each other.

"I'm not entirely sure. She said she was tired, but she always uses that excuse when something is wrong." Brandon said as he scratched his head.

"Well you will have to work that out with her." Sky said as he sat back down and opened up his bag of Cheetos. Brandon sat down next to him, and was confused about what was going on with his relationship. What kind of messages was Stella trying to send to him? Did she all of a sudden not like him and couldn't stand kissing him or having him touch her? This was all that he thought about on the trip back to Eraklyon and it made him nervous for the future of his relationship.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8-Realizations**

Stella woke up from a vivid dream about a brown haired boy sitting on a park bench kissing a random girl that she had never met in her life before. It took her a while to comprehend that this boy was her boyfriend, Brandon, and that it was just a dream. She often had these kinds of dreams ever since she started school again at Alfea and he was busy protecting Prince Sky in Eraklyon.

She looked over at her nightstand at the picture of them together and smiled, remembering the great summer they shared together. However, they had not seen each other since then and Christmas was soon approaching. Despite the fact that they had cell phones and could video chat, they rarely did since whenever she was free, he seemed to be busy and whenever he was free, she had class or royal duties to tend to. This is what their relationship had come to and she still loved him, but she missed him a lot.

"Well you are up early!" Bloom said as she opened the doors to Stella's room.

"Yeah I had another bad dream." Stella said sleepily.

"If it makes you feel any better, Sky told me that Brandon has been very busy with his protection recently so he is not with another girl! They have that gala coming up so both of them are busy." Bloom said as she opened the curtains.

"Yeah yeah, I know but I still can't know for sure what he is doing. I do trust him but it's always a fear in the back of my mind." Stella slowly got out of bed and went to go into the main room of their suite.

"Aren't you packed and ready to go Stel?" Bloom asked with an alarmed look on her face.

"For what?" Stella could not think of why she would have her bags packed.

"You're parents wanted you home to have a meeting with you about you becoming queen? Don't you remember them telling you that yesterday?"

"Oh crap! I totally forgot!" She looked over at the clock and realized she only had twenty minutes to pack her bags and catch her transport

"Don't worry! You are only staying there for a few nights so just pack a couple outfits!"

"You're right! What would I do without you Bloom?" Stella quickly hugged Bloom, thankful that she remembered she had to go back to Solaria, and flung open her closet. She got out her suitcase and picked out a few dresses to take with her and changed out of her pajamas. She didn't even say bye to the rest of the girls as she ran out the door and through the school in order to catch her bus to Magix.

* * *

"Welcome home sweetie! How has this semester been so far?" Stella's mother, Luna, asked.

"It's been fine. Sort of challenging academic wise but I'm managing."

"I do hope you are, you cannot afford to redo another year at Alfea, it will look bad for you and delay you taking over the throne." Stella's dad, Radius, said in a stern tone. He was never proud of the fact that Stella failed her first year at Alfea and had to repeat it.

"What's the rush for me to take over the throne anyways? Shouldn't I get married first and get a bit older and wiser?" Stella asked.

"Well, that is what was summoned you here to talk about dear." Luna said.

They approached the sitting room in the castle and sat down. A servant brought out coffee and tea which Stella began to sip slowly. Her parents were very liberal and always supportive of her being able to chose who she wanted to marry. She had never before been concerned about having an arranged marriage but now she was staring to worry due to the tone her parents were taking.

"Well, since your mother and I are divorced, it does not show for a united country since Luna represents the moon and I the sun. We want to give Solaria a new sense of unity. Change is coming. People are starting to grow tired of some of the old customs and unrest is growing between the two powers." Radius said in a serious tone.

"Why can't you just make changes to the old customs dad? You are liberal and don't believe in many of them right?" Stella asked. This seemed like a simple solution to the problem and she was frustrated her parents had not thought of it.

"It's not that simple. When we took the throne we had the choice to make a certain promise to not change some of the rules. Every ruler has the choice to sign it and we made the mistake of doing so. It was very difficult for us to get the divorce but luckily since your great granddad had one and changed that rule we were able to." Luna said.

"So you want me to take over the throne soon so I can change the old customs? What customs anyways?" Stella said, realizing her parents wanted to use her to make sure the planet did not fall apart.

"The rules about how magic is to be used and some of the old things about separation of the sun and moon. It has been proved with you that their combination just creates more power and is not harmful as it once was thought. Many people still think that they are dangerous together while others do not. These two factions are starting to rise up against each other and are threatening civil war." Radius explained.

"Oh" Stella simply replied with. She did not want to take the responsibility of becoming queen so soon.

"We want you to take the throne this summer after you graduate. You will be a powerful fairy and show the country how the sun and the moon can be united since you hold both powers." Luna said.

"Okay. Well if that is it I should be going back to Alfea, I don't want to be missing too many classes."

"We need you to stay here and make an announcement tomorrow about you taking over soon." Radius said.

"Then can I go back?"

"Yes, sweetie. You are dismissed now." Luna said. Stella put down her cup of coffee and went to her room, where she found her bag. She dug out her laptop and hoped that Brandon was not busy since she really wanted to talk to him about what her parents had told her. She was not sure how she felt about it yet.

She opened up her computer and logged onto her video messaging. Surprisingly, he was online. He usually never was when she logged on but then she realized that it was about ten at night on Eraklyon and she was usually in class at Alfea when he was online.

"Hey babe! Don't you have class right now?" Brandon said as a window with his face popped up on it.

"My parents called me home for a while to talk to me about some stuff. They want me to take over the throne this summer!" Stella said. She started to retell him all the things her parents told her and he listened carefully.

"So are you happy about it then?" Brandon asked after she was finally done retelling him the story.

"I'm not sure yet. I feel like they are using me and I don't really have a say in my life anymore, but I guess I have always known I would eventually have to become queen. I just never guessed it would be so soon. I suppose it won't be so bad and at least I will have something to do after I graduate." Stella said, trying to be optimistic about her predicament.

"I'm sure you will be great as queen. Anyways, Eraklyon is having the annual Christmas gala and I was wondering if you and your family were coming?"

"I'm not sure. I will have to ask them. When is it again?"

"In a week. It is on Christmas Eve. Bloom is coming to represent Sparks and is staying for Christmas so I was hoping you would come that way we could spend Christmas together!"

Stella cheered up at this idea and was sure she would be able to go, even if her parents were not going. She had been looking forward to the holiday break so she could spend time with Brandon again.

"I'm pretty sure that we will go but I'll make sure. I miss you so much!" Stella said as she gazed into his brown eyes through the computer. She missed being in his arms and falling asleep on him and the smell of his cologne. Altogether, she just missed his presence.

"I miss you too babe. I can't wait to see you again. So how are the rest of the girls doing?"

"They are okay. Timmy works for the technology department for all three schools so he is always around and him and Tecna are now official. Flora didn't attend school for a while since she decided to go with Helia to his planet to try and help his grandmother but she died and Flora came back after the first couple weeks of the term."

"Stella! Who are you talking to?" Radius said outside of her door.

"Brandon! Hey dad, were we invited to Eraklyon's Christmas Gala?" Stella yelled so her father could hear.

"Uh, yes dear. We are going. We need to talk again." Radius hesitantly said.

"Well this should be good. I'll text you later okay?" Stella said so her father would not hear.

"Sure thing! I love you!" Brandon said.

"Love you too!"

Stella returned to the sitting room and sat down.

"So when do we leave for the gala?" Stella asked.

"The day after your term ends." Luna said. She was looking out of the window and seemed to not be paying much attention.

"About the gala Stella, we know you are serious about Brandon and are going to want him to be your escort, but since you are going to be Queen it is time for you to settle down and end it with him." Radius explained. He knew that she would not be happy to hear this.

"What? Both of you love him though! I thought it was okay for me to be seen with an esquire and to date one!" Stella said, outraged that her parents were now not being understanding about her relationship.

"It is, but not to marry one! If you are going to be taken seriously as queen, you cannot bend the rules to marry him. We have let you go out with him until now since you were just the princess but you will need to find someone royal to join you on the throne!" Radius said.

"You..can't…do this! You..dddon't understttand! He is the only one I will ever love! You ccan't imagine how hard it has bbeen to be away from him this semester! He is like my other half! I want him to join me on the throne!" Stella said through her sobs. She knew deep down that Brandon was the only guy she would ever want to marry and be with and therefore was the reason why she was putting up with the long distance relationship they had.

"Do you want Solaria to fall apart? The people will not respect you if change that rule before you even become queen! You have to marry before you become queen and that is final!" Radius said. He then walked out of the room and slammed the door shut. Stella was shocked and couldn't do anything else but sit on the couch and cry. It was not fair that she did not have a choice in anything in her life, it is not her fault that her parents divorced and the planet's stability now rested on her shoulders.

"Darling, I know this is hard for you but in the end it will be for the best." Luna said as she sat down next to her daughter and put an arm around her to try and comfort her.

"How? Brandon is what is best for me! I'm a better person with him!"

"You think I don't know that? We have tried for so long to prevent you from having an arranged marriage like your father and I had to protect you from what happened to us but we cannot see a way around this."

Stella could not think of anything else to say. She was not happy with her parents at all and did not know what to do. She felt helpless and desperate.

* * *

The next morning she stood on the balcony with a fake smile and waved into the crowd as her father announced that she would be taking over the throne this coming summer. Despite her radiant appearance, due to the use of many magical makeup techniques, inside she was miserable and heart-broken. She had no clue how she was going to end it with Brandon and how to handle the gala next week. She had not told anyone about her situation yet and was not sure she was going to since there was no way to change it. She did not have any choice whatsoever and was now realizing that in her entire life, she had never had a choice.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9-The Hardest Decision**

Stella walked off of the hover craft onto the cobblestones while taking off her head gear. She had been traveling all around Solaria in order to promote herself as being the up and coming Queen. She still had not figured out how she would break up with Brandon, since this seemed to be her only choice at the moment.

As she walked into the main part of this city with her body guards, she couldn't help but noticing all of the run down buildings and the miserable looks on the peoples faces. Before she had never visited most of her planet, only the parts around the capital city and the shopping centers. The people looked up at her and didn't even smile at her like all the other citizens did in better looking towns.

She got up to the platform where she was supposed to give an inspiring speech about the new laws on the combination of magic. It was easy since she had done it twenty times already and all she had to do was read off of the note cards.

After regurgitating the words on the note cards, she looked down into the crowd and noticed none of them were enthusiastic, they just clapped and seemed to not be paying any attention to her. This made her slightly angry but she just wanted to get out of there, she had to think of a way to break up with Brandon without breaking his heart.

As she was walking back to the hover craft, she noticed in the corner a little boy in a baggy tshirt with no shoes crying. He looked like he hadn't taken a shower in months and was alarmingly skinny.

"What is up with the people here?" Stella said aloud.

"Are they bothering you Princess?"

"No, I'm just wondering why they aren't like all the other places we have visited."

"They just aren't as advanced as the rest of the planet" one of the body guards responded. The same man then went over to the little crying boy and dragged him away out of Stella's sight.

When he came back, she said "Hey! Why did you manhandle him like that? He wasn't hurting anyone?"

"I thought he was bothering you, and we don't need images like that going across the planet. He looked disgusting!"

"Well that was completely uncalled for and don't do it again. That's an order." Stella said sternly as she got onto the hover craft. She sat down and stared out into the town as she waited for the pilot to get in and take off. She could not believe she had never before realized that there were people in Solaria that were this worse off. She sighed as the plane took off and realized that she had to think of how she was going to break up with Brandon.

There was no easy way to do it, he would be heart broken for sure. He would also probably hate her for the rest of her life, but it was her royal duty to become Queen and in order to do that, she had to marry into royalty.

Stella sat down in her bed that night and opened up her laptop. She brought up the video chatting program and saw that Brandon was on. She would have to have courage in order to go through with this, but it had to be done.

"Hey babe! How was the tour today?" Brandon asked as his face popped up.

"Okay. Same old same old. How was your day?" Stella replied in a bored tone.

"Same old same old here. Just getting ready for the gala, you are coming right?" Brandon asked.

"About that…I don't think so." Stella replied. It was now or never.

"Stella, what's wrong? You've been distant this whole semester and now you don't want to go to a ball with me?" Brandon was starting to get worried.

"Brandon, I don't think that we should be together anymore" Stella said in one breath. It was taking all of her strength to not cry right now and to break up with the man she loved.

"What do you mean? You…you don't want to date me anymore?" Brandon slowly said, he was shocked. He had never thought about his life without Stella and he did not want to lose her.

"No, I…don't think that we are good together Brandon." Stella said.

"But..we've been through so much! I thought that you loved me! Don't do this Stella! I love you with all my heart!" Brandon said. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Brandon, we can't be together. It was fun while it lasted, but it was just a little fling. You had to have known that I never could have married you, you are just a squire" Stella said. She knew that last comment would hurt him.

"You've never cared about that before though! We can work through this Stella!"

"I don't love you! I never really did! You were just a fun time! I can't keep doing that though, we both need to grow up!" Stella yelled into the computer. She saw the hurt on his face. He had tears in his eyes and said,

"Well I guess that's it then. I just want you to know that I thought what we had, what we have, is real. And I won't give up one you."

It was killing Stella to have to hurt him. She cracked and started sobbing while still in the chat with him, but she quickly ended it before he could see to much of her.

"I'm a horrible person" Stella wailed into her pillows. She thought about all of the times they had together over the past three years. About how Brandon stuck by her even when she wasn't sure about dating him in the first place because of his status, and how he still loved her when she was turned into a green lizard only last year.

She spent the rest of the night crying and trying to numb herself to the pain she felt in her heart.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Alfea Musa was writing a new song featuring an electric guitar. It started off pretty fast and with clashing chords, but as she kept writing it, the chords became sweeter sounding and the tempo decreased significantly. She was mainly writing it for Riven since she new that was his favorite sounds, but as she thought about him she became more mellow and this was reflected in her music.

They had not fully been a couple really until their recent vacation when he really opened up to her and was not such a jerk. They officially started dating then, and ever since she could not stop thinking about him. He was on his home planet and had gotten a job working for a security firm based on his credentials from Red Fountain.

She missed him terribly, but they talked over the phone, texted, or video chatted almost every day so she still was able to talk to him. She hoped to get his song done by the end of the day so she could play it for them when they talked that night.

She was writing down the last couple of measures when she overheard Sky and Bloom fighting in the other room.

"What do you mean she wouldn't do that? She just did Bloom! I can't believe she is that conceited!" Sky said.

"Well she must not have been willingly doing it Sky! I know Stella, she is my best friend and she is crazy about Brandon." Bloom said back in an annoyed tone.

Musa put down her pencil and walked into Bloom and Flora's bedroom.

"What's happening?" Musa asked.

Boom looked up from her computer.

"Um, not much. Can I talk to you in a minute Musa?"

"Sure, whenever your free." Musa said as she left the room. She was not sure what they were fighting about, but it must be serious since Sky and Boom rarely ever fought.

She wrote down the last couple of notes and began to play the song on her guitar to make sure it sounded okay. As she started to come up with lyrics, Bloom walked into the room.

"Sorry you had to hear that." Bloom said.

"No prob. What was it about anyways?"

"Sky said that apparently Stella and Brandon broke up. I just don't believe it though." Bloom said as she sat down on Musa's bed, the only place in the room without music and instruments on it.

"What? Why would they break up? " Musa said, shocked by the news.

"I have no idea! Sky claims that Stella broke up with Brandon because he is not royal." Bloom shrugged.

"Stella would never do that though, remember how hard it was to get her to focus on anyone besides Brandon when we came back to Alfea?" Musa said. She remembered Stella being depressed about not seeing Brandon all the time after he and the rest of the specialists graduated from Red Fountain last spring.

"Exactly my point! That's what I told Sky, but he wouldn't listen to me, he says that Brandon has been a wreck and didn't sleep at all after she broke up with him. He says he has never seem him this depressed and out of it before".

"Why don't we just call Stella and ask her what is going on?" Musa asked.

"That's what I was planning on doing. I just don't want to disturb her since she is on that tour thingy and in Solaria it is almost the end of the day while it is just morning here." Bloom said.

"Well we need to figure this out. I can't believe she would actually break up with Brandon, that's not like Stella. She said that she loved him before she left for Solaria!" Musa said as she followed Bloom out into the living area of their dorm.

"Hey guys, you better come check this out." Tecna said as they entered the room. She was sitting on the couch with her laptop on the coffee table in front of her and she was watching a video of what seemed to be a riot,

"As Princess Stella travels the planet to talk about what she will do as Queen when she is coronated in the upcoming months, unrest in the lowlands has risen. We are here in Balangia where there is a fullscale riot happening right now!" The newscaster said.

The camera shifted to show people with little to no clothing on holding up signs and punching their fists in the air.

"What in the universe is going on in Solaria?" Bloom asked as the three girls watch the live stream horrified.

One of the signs someone was holding said "Down with Radius and Luna, Kill the monarchs of Solaria!"

All of a sudden the crowd starting booing and rushing to the left where men dressed in all black were quickly shooing a stressed looking Stella away from the crowd.

"Looks like Stella won't be able to take a call right now!" Musa said.

"I don't know what's going on, but something strange is happening with Stella and we need to help her!"

The live stream was still going when they saw the mob catch up to the security guards and take Stella into their possession with the help of some fairies and wizards from the town. She was in her enchantix form but there was nothing she could do due to the sheer amount of people working against her.

Someone then came up to the camera man and clearly hit him with a ball of energy because the camera dropped and cracked. The stream went fuzzy and then black.

"We need to go help her right away!" Tecna exclaimed.

"I'll call Layla and Flora and get them her right away!" Musa said.

"Should we talk to Ms. Faragonda?" Tecna asked.

"We don't have time, Stella is in serious danger. I have a feeling all of this has to do with her breaking up with Brandon too, I'll call Sky and let him know what we are doing. Tecna, can you get a transport ready for us?" Bloom asked. She was so used to just being able to call Sky because he could easily borrow a ship from Red Fountain.

"I'm not sure, but I'll see what I can do quickly!" Tecna exclaimed.

And they were right, Stella did need their help desperately.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10-A Crazy Idea**

Stella was blindfolded and taken to an underground cave. She was then thrown against a wall and the blindfold was taken off.

"You can make one call, Princess" Someone sneered at her. A phone was thrown at her and she dodged it. She had no idea what was going on, but she did not want to miss an opportunity to call for help.

She quickly dialed Bloom's number and Bloom picked up.

"Stella! What is going on? Tecna showed us a live feed of a riot! Are you okay?" Bloom urgently asked.

"I guess for now I'm okay, I don't really know what they are doing with me. I need your guys' help." Stella sighed. Her whole body ached from being manhandled by the mob.

"We are trying to organize a way to get there Stel, we are going to come as fast as we can. Do you know where you are?"

"I have no clue"

"Is everything okay? We have barely heard from you and Sky told me you broke up with Brandon. That can't be true can it?"

"Yeah I did." Stella responded. She did not think of how she was going to tell all of her friends about their break up and did not know how to respond to Bloom.

"Stel, you love him though! Remember how much you missed him before you left for Solaria? Did something happen with your parents?"

"Nothing happened Bloom, I-I- just don't love him anymore" Stella said unconvincingly.

"I don't believe that for one second Stella. What happened? Did your parents tell you to break up with him?" Bloom asked. Stella was silent, she didn't know what else to say.

"That's it isn't it? How could you be so shallow Stella?" Bloom asked.

"Bloom, I had to! My parents want me to become Queen right after I graduate and I can't be marrying a squire! I have to give up love for my duty." Stella said as she began to cry.

"There is always a way Stella! Who cares what your parents say? You have to follow your heart, you can't just be that cruel to Brandon." Bloom said.

"You wouldn't know anything about it Bloom! You have your perfect little life with your prince boyfriend. No one telling you who or who you can't marry, you don't have any responsibilities!" Stella yelled into the phone.

"Yeah, because my planet was destroyed. Do whatever you want Stella, I just thought that you actually loved Brandon" Bloom said.

"I do but-" Stella began to say but someone came into the cell and stole the phone away from her.

"Times up your highness!" the man said in a sarcastic tone. He then left the cell and Stella was left alone. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this and did not know what was even going on.

She remembered doing he usual speech and there being some protesters in the crowd, but there was still relative peace. These people looked like the people she had visited the day before and she felt bad for them but did not know what she could do.

She was walking off the stage when chaos broke loose and the body guards formed a circle around her, trying to get her back to the hover craft safely. She then noticed the messages on the protesters signs about death to the king and queen and finally realized how much danger she was in. She was being pushed around in every direction and finally decided to transform into her Enchantix.

The mass amount of people was overwhelming though. She could not blast every person and she ended up being overcome by the mob and was dragged to this prison.

Stella was miserable. She had no idea how her life had turned so bad. Just a few weeks ago she was at Alfea with her best friends and was in love with her boyfriend. Now she had no boyfriend, was locked up in an underground cave, and her friends thought she was shallow and selfish.

Maybe she was. "Am I really that bad of a person?" Stella whispered aloud.

"Yes, you all are!" said someone outside of her cell. It was a woman who was her guard.

Stella then began to cry and curled up into a ball on the ground. She thought about how her parents had always dictated her life and she just let them. Was it really wrong of her to respect their wishes that she marry into royalty? Would being with Brandon in the future really hurt her ability to rule Solaria?

She was exhausted and confused and her head was pounding. The ground was cold and made her even more uncomfortable. Why were these people keeping her hostage? What had she done wrong?

"Stop your whining princess, not used to sleeping in the dirt are you?" The woman said.

Stella didn't respond, she had no intention of talking to these people when she could only focus on Brandon.

"You have no idea do you." The woman stated. This comment got Stella's attention. She wanted to know what this woman was referring to. Her hair was all over the place and she was dirty. She wore jeans with holes in them and had a cut of shirt that looked like it wasn't meant to be a cutoff shirt.

"About what? " Stella snapped back.

"That while you are off in your little princess land of getting new clothing every day, going to parties, having as much food you want to have, half of your planet is starving because of our inability to use our magic."

"You can't use your magic?"

"Not with King Radius and Queen Luna using all of the Sun and Moon for their various little projects."

"I-I- I didn't know. I'm sorry" Stella said. She had no idea that people in Solaria were suffering so badly.

"You don't care though, you just go around reading off of your little note cards some spiel about helping the country when none of that helps."

Stella sat in silence for a while and thought about it. Now she realized that half of the people in Solaria were living like this, she wanted to do something to help.

"My kids don't have anything to eat tonight, or tomorrow or the next night. I can't find a job and can't move in order to get one." The woman said in a quieter tone.

Would her parents really have allowed this to happen? Stella thought about it for a moment, and realized that they probably would. They loved her and did anything for her, but they didn't want to let her marry the person she loves. How could they do that to her?

Because they really restricted her, she realized that they probably were capable of ignoring the troubles in Solaria just to get what they wanted, just like they were willing to sacrifice her happiness for theirs.

Suddenly, she got an idea.

"How can I help? I'm supposed to become Queen in the summer, and I genuinely am sorry for your condition. If I had any idea before, I would have appealed to my parents, not that they would probably have listened to me." Stella asked. She knew that her supporting rebellious citizens would be frowned upon, but if this would help her get out alive, she would do anything. Plus, she did want to help these people. She remembered the little boy in the city yesterday and did not want anyone to suffer like that anymore.

"We don't need the help of a monarch, we need a say in our government. The only way to do that is to overthrow your tyrannical parents." The woman responded.

"I don't want to hurt the, but, well, I will support this rebellion." Stella said.

"Wait, you just said you would support the rebellion?"

"Yes, well I would like to speak with the leaders and see what exactly I can do, I don't want this to turn into an all out civil war.

"Well honey, I'm afraid you're already too late for that. The war has begun."


	11. Chapter 11

Brandon was laying on his bed with his head buried into his pillow. He did not want to get up and didn't know how he was going to function.

He had spent the last couple hours crying on and off again. Stella was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he had no clue what he had done wrong. Hadn't he always been romantic towards her? He had never been dumped in his life, he was always the one who broke up with girls. But he never wanted to break up with Stella, he thought that they were going to get married someday.

As he was trying to stop thinking about her, Sky came into his room again. He did not want to see him because all he did was try and make him feel better but he couldn't see how he could ever feel fine again.

"We need to go to Solaria." Sky said.

"Why?" Brandon asked without even looking up.

"Because there is a rebellion taking place and Stella is being held hostage. Tecna called Timmy to see if there was any way he could round up the old team and he called me immediately. I can get us a transport to Red Fountain to get a ship and meet up with him, Riven, Nabu, and Helia right now. So…you need to get ready."

"She doesn't want my help Sky." Brandon shrugged. He didn't want Stella to get hurt, he still loved her, but he also didn't want to be that annoying ex boyfriend who won't go away.

"Do you love her or not? Do you want to see her die?" Sky asked.

Brandon thought about it, and he truly didn't want her to be hurt. He wanted her to be happy, even if her happiness did not include him. He couldn't stand to see her get hurt and wanted to do everything in his power to save her, because he did still lover her with all of his heart. So he got out of bed for the first time in a day and got his gear together.

* * *

"Hey guys! I've missed you all!" Bloom said as she ran up to Sky and jumped into his arms. The rest of the girls greeted their boyfriends and hugged them.

"Feels like old times doesn't it?" Helia said.

"Sure does. We should get moving though, things are getting pretty serious in Solaria." Musa said.

Everyone got onto a ship and Timmy and Riven began to punch in the coordinates. They took off and all they could do was wait.

"How bad is it?" Sky asked.

"The videos all look pretty bad. Most of the people are demanding that the King and Queen abdicate the throne, but a lot of the more radical ones are also calling for their death" Tecna said. She pulled out her tablet computer and brought up a video of the riots. Similar videos had been streaming the web since the first one broke out.

"What do they want?" Flora asked.

"Equal say in government, more rights. For most of the citizens, life is pretty bad. A lot of them are living in poverty because they cannot find work due to the magic laws on Solaria and the King and Queen want to change those laws. But the changes would make finding magic jobs even harder and put even more people into poverty." Tecna explained.

"Well I hope Stella is okay" Layla said.

* * *

Stella was still being kept in her cell. The woman who she had talked to before was still her guard and was pretty nice to her. She learned more about the grievances of the people and what they truly wanted. She still was in shock that her parents were such horrible leaders.

It took her a while to fully convince her guard and a couple of the other leaders that she truly had no idea what they were doing and did not agree with it at all. She in fact wanted to help them change it. But she also wanted the violence to stop. This is what she was going to discuss with the leaders at a meeting today.

When the time came for the meeting, she was nervous. She was still afraid of these people and the fact that most of them really didn't like her or her parents. But trying to appease them was also the only way for her to stave herself and them.

"So why would you agree to help us Princess Stella?" The one leader asked.

"I don't think what has happened is right. I would help make Solaria better once I become Queen, and that is going to be very soon"

"Your speeches were not really inspiring." He said as he rolled his eyes.

"I-I- I didn't take those seriously and have been letting everyone else do everything for me."

"Well obviously, especially with your break up."

"My, my what?" Stella said. She had not really thought too much about Brandon because she didn't allow herself to anymore, it was just too painful.

"You are just your mommy and daddy's little puppet aren't you? They tell you to break up with your squire boyfriend because it will look 'bad' for their image, and did it. How do we know you won't be like that when you are the ruler? Let your parents tell you everything to do. The whole reason you are becoming queen is because they want you to pass some diabolical law, and we cannot let that happen."

"But I won't let that pass, and I didn't want to break up with him, I didn't know any better! Don't you understand? I had no idea about any of the political or social circumstances going on here, if I did I would have tried to help! I want to help! Just stop this violence!"

Stella collapsed onto her knees and started crying. She had no idea how to get the message through to them, she just didn't want her parents harmed or any other people in Solaria. They had shown her the footage of the army and the rebels fighting each other and how violent it was getting.

"I just want the violence to stop! It's unnecessary! I'm willing to help everyone and be a better ruler than my parents! I swear that I do! No one needs to die in this!" She sobbed.

The leaders were quiet for a while when finally one spoke up.

"I think she is being genuine, and we don't really want more of our people dying do we?" It was the woman who was her guard.

"No, she's right. Any life lost is a tragedy. We have to trust that she will help change." Another leader said.

"I don't fully trust her though. In order for us to end this, you will need to be constantly supervised by us when making political decisions. Do you agree?" The main man said.

"Yes, just please make it all stop!" Stella begged.

"Alright then, but it will be difficult since it is so widespread already. Send out word to all the leaders to abort. We also need to get to the capital and have the armies stop. Stella, you are the only one who can do that since we have you 'hostage'. You will need to come into the battles with us" He explained.

"We aren't fighting are we?" Stella asked.

"Only if necessary, I can't guarantee all of the rebels will stop automatically, a lot of them resent you and your family, I'm still not too fond of you either." He said as he gave her a stern look.

The leaders and Stella left the hideout on a hovercraft to the capital of Solaria. All of them were busy trying to contact the rebel leaders and tell them to stop while she was supposed to send a message to her parents.

She kept trying to reach their line, but no one was answering. She kept leaving messages hoping someone would hear.

"Mom, Dad, this is Stella, I'm fine, but this violence needs to stop. Tell the armies to stop! The rebels are going to stop and things need to be changed. I can't talk much now about the specifics, but I just can't believe you guys let it get this bad. How could you? I am going to help Solaria become a better place for everyone and major changes need to be made right away." Stella said in her latest message. She was desperate for someone to hear.

She dialed the number again but was shoved out of her seat.

"What was that?" Someone yelled.

"We were hit! I don't know if I can fix this." The person flying the hover craft said.

The hover craft began to take a nose dive downwards and Stella realized that they were going to crash.

"Everyone! Transform or get into an escape pod, Go Go GO!" Cried the leader.

Stella transformed into her enchantix quickly and blasted a hole through the main window so she could get out. Most everyone got out and met up with her. She noticed that they were not too far from the palace so it was not too bad. The bad thing was that the fighting was still going on. Nobody seemed to get the message that they were supposed to stop.

"We need to head for the palace!" yelled one of the leaders. They huddled together and tried to move forward, but were doing so slowly. There were magic blasts and weapons being fired everyone. Nobody seemed to notice them or listen to them. Stella just needed to get to the palace to talk to her parents before the rebels got their and killed them. At this rate though, it was going to take her all night.

She got hit by a blast and fell to the ground. It was one of the army members and she was outraged that her own army was firing at her. The guy continued to come after her so she threw an energy ball at him. He fell down but then she was hit again.

She kept getting hit and couldn't seem to get away from it. She decided to try and fly over the crowd but kept being hit. She felt so weak but she had to keep going. Some of the rebel leaders were by her, but they were all in the same situation and were trying to be hit.

After receiving plenty of hits and throwing many spells back, she somehow reached the bottom of the main stairs of the palace. Her foot was then grabbed by a rebel man and she was pulled to the ground. Her head hit the bottom stair and she felt the blood beginning to trickle down the side of her face. She sent away a blast and hit something but didn't know what.

Then the doors of the palace opened up and she saw her parents with their hands being held behind their backs escorted out by some rebels. They were kicking the backs of their legs and yelling at them.

"Mom! Dad! Please don't hurt them! This has to stop! I want to help don't you understand?" She was yelling. She began to get up to fly to them, but was shot down by another energy ball. She fell to the ground and could no longer find the strength to get up.

The winx and the specialists meanwhile had been in the fight as well. They had landed on the far outskirts of the palace and were making their way towards it, facing the same problems Stella was.

As they got closer Bloom looked up and saw Stellas parents being brought out and placed on their knees almost like an execution.

"Oh no! We might be too late! Look!" Bloom shouted.

Brandon was the only one who heard her and looked up towards the palace. He saw the same thing Bloom had but he also saw a bright yellow haired figure trying to get up. He couldn't tell exactly who it was but as soon as he saw her wings, he realized that it was Stella, and she was hurt badly.

He started to run towards her, knocking down everyone in his path. He was almost to her when he saw some of the rebels step above her and stop. They both raised their spears and they were aimed directly at her.

Brandon then yelled as he started sprinting to her,"Oh god no, please god no! STELLA! STELLLA!"


	12. Chapter 12

Bloom looked up from the guy she was fighting because she heard Brandon screaming Stella's name. It only took her a few seconds to see that Stella was laying on the stairs with three weapons pointed at her and Brandon was chasing after her. She also noticed that Stella's parents were being put on their knees almost like they were about to be executed. She quickly flew up into the air.

"Winx! We need to save stella's parents!" Bloom yelled hoping the other girls would her here. She figured that Brandon would hopefully get to Stella in time. As she flew over him she yelled, "Brandon get Stella!"

Brandon was pushing through as many people as possible. He had to get to Stella, he just had to. Somehow, he got there before all of the spears could drive into her.

"Stay away from her!" he yelled as he swung his sword at all the people around her. He hit many of them but others just kept coming.

"Brandon?" Stella murmured out, everything was blurry and she didn't really know what was going on. She thought that she heard his voice but couldn't see if the shadow defending her was him or not.

"I'm going to protect you Stella!" Brandon shouted at her. He kept going in a circle around her, hitting any person with his sword that came close to her.

Meanwhile the winx girls got to the top of the steps just in time to hit the rebels holding Stella's parents with all their power. They kept fighting until all of a sudden a loud voice echoed throughout the area.

"The fighting will stop! We have come to an agreement with Princess Stella about the new laws that will be changed when she becomes Queen within the next month! All rebels are ordered to go back to their bases!" The booming voice said. It was coming from the rebel leader who was standing at the top of another set of smaller stairs.

There was some confusing as the rebels put down their weapons and did not know what to do. However, the Solarian army did not stop attacking.

"Order the army to stop now! There needs to be peace!" Bloom pleaded with Stellas parents.

"But they tried to kill us!" Radius said as he stood up.

"Do you really want to kill all of your people too? This must stop!" Bloom replied.

"Fine, Solaria! Stop the attacks! Immediately! Get back to guard the main palace!" Radius said using the same kind of projection spell the rebel leader did.

The armies began to retreat. Brandon was finally able to put down his sword. He had somehow traveled farther away from Stella during the fight and had almost forgot that she was wounded. He was about to walk up the stairs when he noticed her lying where he left her looking seriously injured.

"Stella!" He yelled as he sprinted over to her. He lifted her torso and supported her head which was bleeding pretty badly.

"Brandon, is that you?" Stella asked. She could make out his face since it was so close to hers and would recognize his voice anywhere.

"Yes, it's me." Brandon replied as he moved her hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry Brandon, I didn't want to…I was forced to..well I- I…" Stella said. Se couldn't find the right words to say to him.

"I love you Brandon, I always have and always will. I want to be with you the rest of my life." Stella said in a soft voice. She lifted her hand up to his beautiful face and held his cheek.

Brandon held her hand that was on his face and was starting to see that she was not in good shape.

"I love you to Stella, I don't want to lose you again, I know what that's like and it's hell." Brandon said.

Stella was starting to fade into blackness and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stay away from it.

"Just hold me Brandon." She managed to get out.

Brandon had tears welling up in his eyes as he imagined her dying. He couldn't live without her as he had seen in the past few days. At least then she was alive, but he didn't know what he would do if she were dead.

"I'm going to help you Stella, I can't lose you!" he said as he began to cry. He then picked her up and rushed up to the front of the castle where her parents were. They looked at him with a look of slight disgust but he didn't care.

"Where is the medical area?" Brandon asked

"It's on the second floor in the North wing, let me take her" Radius said as he began to approach Brandon.

"No! I've got her, I'm going to care for her!" Brandon said as he began to walk into the palace.

He then heard two gunshots go off and looked back to see Radius and Luna fall to the ground. Chaos broke out again but he had to get Stella to help. He got into the castle and got the doors closed. He rushed to the second floor of the North wing to try to find a healer to help her.

"Can you save her?" Brandon asked as he put Stella down onto a table where nurses began to work on her.

"I sure hope so" the main healer said. "You'll have to leave for the moment."

"I'll be right outside Stella." Brandon said. He then kissed her forehead and walked out into the corridor. He looked out of the window and saw the rebels and the solarian Army fighting again and did not know how things could have gotten so bad so fast.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set as Radius and Luna were brought into the hospital by the winx girls and the specialists. He was glad to see that his friends were alright, and was sad to see that Radius and Luna had been shot. Even though he did not really like them that much because of their recent attitude towards him, he still didn't wish any harm to them.

"How is she doing?" Bloom asked as she came over to Brandon.

"I don't know, they kind of kicked me out so they could try to help her." Brandon said.

"This is horrible, the fighting is still going on!" Flora said as she looked out the window.

"Will it ever end?" Helia asked.

"I feel like we should go out and help" Musa said.

"On whose side though? We rescued Stella like we wanted to and we got her parents here, it's too dangerous to go back out there" Riven said.

"I still feel bad though." Musa shrugged. Riven went over to her and hugged her tightly.

"I don't want to lose you Musa, I want you to stay safe." Riven said as he looked into her eyes.

Normally Musa would have gotten mad and said that she could defend herself, but she saw that Riven really cared for her and he wasn't trying to attack her powers. She kissed him and then they sat down on a bench in the corridor.

All of the other winx girls and specialists waited there too. Brandon was pacing back and forth while Sky tried to follow him and get him to calm down.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Brandon." Sky tried to reassure him.

Brandon was tired of hearing this from all of his friends though. "How do you know?" Brandon yelled. "You don't know that! I can't lose her again! I just can't!" Brandon yelled and then collapsed onto his knees.

The thought of not having Stella being gone from the world made his stomach hurt and he couldn't bear it anymore. He began to cry and Flora went over to him.

"We say those things because we know how strong Stella is and how she doesn't want to lose you either. She never wanted to break up with you Brandon, I hope you know that. She will pull through this." Flora said as she hugged him.

"And what if she doesn't?" Brandon looked up and asked.

"Then we accept it and learn to live with her memory, the way she would want us to." Flora responded.

They kept waiting and waiting while they heard the fighting going on outside of the palace. The assassination attempt on Radius and Luna had started the fight all over again and there seemed to be no stopping to it.

Finally a healer came out at four in the morning. Brandon was the only one still wide awake.

"Is Stella okay? Is she going to be okay?" Brandon pleaded.

"She seems to be pulling through, I think I have healed most of her injuries. Later in the morning we will see more of how stable she is."

"Well, that's good right? She's going to live" Brandon asked.

"Yes, I believe so. But we couldn't heal King Radius in time, he's gone."

"What? But why not? And what about Luna?" Brandon asked.

"Luna's injuries are so severe I don't know if she will ever fully heal. Her life is not threatened, but she might be paralyzed for the rest of her life. Radius was shot and the bullet went pretty deep into him through some major organs."

Brandon didn't know what to say, he had never minded her parents and had a decent relationship with them until recently. He was not really emotionally attached to them but it was still sad that Radius was dead and Luna in a coma. Plus, Stella loved them so how would she handle it, if she was still alive in the morning?


	13. Chapter 13

When Stella woke up, she wasn't sure where she was. All she saw was a cream colored ceiling and felt a heavy pounding throughout her entire head, preventing her from sitting up. It hurt to keep her eyes open, all she wanted to do was to sleep, and so she did.

She had no idea how much time was passing, she kept waking up and trying to will herself to sit up, but her body felt like it was locked up and she would just drift off to sleep. Each time she woke up the pounding in her head got a little less intense, and finally she found that she could sit up.

The first thing she saw was Brandon hunched over the bottom of her bed sleeping. "He looks so adorable when he's sleeping" she thought as she tried to move her feet without disturbing him. Despite her slow movement, he sat straight up, startled from her movement.

"Stella?" Brandon asked, clearly still half asleep.

"Yes?" Stella asked. She was confused as to why he seemed so surprised she was awake.

"You're awake! You're going to be okay!" Brandon exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess so…how long have I been out of it?" Stella asked. She was beginning to remember why she was in the hospital wing in the first place.

"Like a day and half. The fighting is still going on." Brandon then stood up and looked out the window.

Stella did not know what to say next. She did not know why Brandon had come to help her when she had broken his heart, and didn't know if he would want to take her back, or even if they should get back together. She was thinking about it when he interrupted her,

"I don't know if this fighting will ever stop, you might have to get out of here since I doubt either side will every fully support you."

"And why would you say that?" She was still feeling hazy and wasn't sure as to why Brandon was giving so much thought into her planets problems.

"The rebels hate you for being a princess, and the army isn't too happy about you sort of joining them."

"That's beside the point though, why would you care about that?"

Brandon then turned his head and looked straight into her eyes since he had been looking out the window the entire time.

"Because I love you and care about you still. I doubt you feel the same way, but-"

Stella had gotten up and walked over to him while he was talking. She leaned up to his face and kissed him before he could finish his sentence.

"I never wanted to break up with you, and I never should have. It was stupid of me to listen to my parents, and I know I don't deserve you in any way, but I love you more than anything Brandon, and I'm so sorry I had to hurt you" Stella said as tears welled up in her eyes.

Brandon grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

"I'll always love you Stella, no matter what. I don't want to ever lose you, the past week has been hell without you in my life, and not knowing if you were going to live or not? That was even worse. I can't lose you because, I can't live without you."

"I can't live without you either Brandon, you are my best friend and the only man I will ever truly love"

He held her tight in his arms and she loved the feeling of being there. They just stood there like that for a while and then moved over to her bed and sat down together.

"I want to get back together if you want to" Stella said.

"I do, but I'm still just a squire, and you're going to be Queen."

"Well I don't care, and honestly that might be best for the people, to see that I'm not as shallow as my parents and that unity is possible."

"As long as that is what you want, I just want to be with you." Brandon then took her into his arms again and they kissed.

"There is something I need to tell you though, and I don't want to since everything is so fragile right now, but it can't wait."

"What? What is it?" Stella couldn't imagine what else could possibly go wrong in this single week.

"Right after you passed out, fighting erupted again as I was carrying you here, and shots were fired by the rebels, and your mom and dad were hit. And well, your dad…he's…gone. Your mom is in a coma currently with little signs of improvement." Brandon said slowly. "I'm so sorry to have to put this on you-" he began to say before she threw herself into his arms again and began to sob.

There was nothing for him to say, he could only just hold her as she cried. They laid down on the bed together and she cried into his chest while he stroked her soft golden hair and held her body close to his.

* * *

"Poor Stella, she's going through so much" Flora said. The rest of the friends had been given guest rooms in the palace and were eating lunch together. Brandon had stayed in the hospital room for the past days and finally had coaxed Stella to return to her own room and was now staying there with her, but she was far from being herself.

"At least her and Brandon are back together, I don't know if I could have taken his mopeyness anymore" Riven said.

"Riven! Come on!" Musa said. She playfully hit him but still couldn't believe he could be so insensitive at times.

"Sorry, I'm happy for him though, seriously."

"I wish we could help." Bloom said.

"Only time can really help them" Timmy said.

"I wonder what her whole press conference will be about today." Helia said.

"I just want this fighting to end, it is horrible." Layla said.

Stella then walked in with Brandon. She looked better than she had in a long time, but it was probably because of the makeup she was wearing and the fact she wasn't wearing sweatpants and oversized t-shirts anymore.

"Hey guys, whats up?" She asked as she sat down. There was an awkward silence in the room as no one really know what mood they should be in.

"Just eating, are you ready to give that press conference?" Sky responded.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

They ate in silence for the rest of the meal with only a few comments about trivial things. Finally, it was time for the press conference and they followed Stella to the main balcony of the palace. Mass amounts of security were in place to prevent any assassination attempt even though the fighting had ceased for this.

"You'll do great Stel." Brandon said. He kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. She took a deep breath and hugged him back. He was the only thing that was holding her together in the past couple days as she recovered and tried to cope with the fact her father was dead and her mother was pretty much brain dead. She then walked out onto the balcony where she saw many of the rebels and the Solarian army underneath the bright sun.

"Solarians, I realize that many of you are not in a good place right now. I am thankful that my eyes have been opened to the fact that serious changes need to be made to this planets government. When I was captured by the rebel leaders, I met one who was genuinely nice to me, and made me think about how much I was missing on this planet. As my first duty of Queen, I will help to set up a representative government in which each section has representatives that will be able to have a say in the policies and meet with me. I will not have direct authority, but I will have some powers which will be discussed further at a later date.

Furthermore, this fighting must stop. I do not think it was ever appropriate or necessary to use violence to change the way things are. Because of this, my father is dead and my mother is in a coma. I know many of you did not like them and some of you were directly responsible for this tragedy. Even though I also did not agree with their policies, they were my parents and I am extremely grieved that I will never see my father again, and most likely never my mother either. In order to prevent more tragedies like this happening, I order for this war to end, as my last authoritative war.

From this point on, I will make every decision with the help of every citizen of Solaria, and genuinely listen to the problems of the people. I promise, things will get better. But in order to do this, the war must end, and the tensions must be forgotten for a new day has begun and as long as the sun is shining on Solaria, we will move on and become stronger."

Stella then exited the stage and went back into the castle.

"You did great babe" Brandon said as he hugged her.

"Thanks, I just hope that I can be trusted again"

"I'm sure you will, it will just take time."

"Also, I just wanted to thank everyone else for being here. I'm sorry I've been distant lately, I just don't want to bring anyone else down."

"Stel, that's what we are here for, best friends through the bad and the good. No matter what." Bloom said. The other girls walked over to her.

"We'll always be here for you" Flora said.

"Thanks guys, you are the best friends I could ever have asked for." The girls then hugged each other.

"We better get back to Alfea in a couple days." Tecna said as they separated.

"I need to stay here for a while but I'll be back soon, there is just a lot to do here. I hope I'm not missing too much at school or I can do some of the work from home, I really don't want to have to repeat another year and I want my diploma."

"I'm sure Ms. Faragonda will be understanding, and we can help you through it!" Bloom said.

"Your majesty? You are needed in the meeting room, we need to lay down what the new plan and some of the rebel leaders are here to help." One of the guards came in and said.

"I sure hope so, and I'll be right there. Well girls, I guess I will see you soon, keep me posted." Stella said.

"Will do, good luck!" Musa shouted as Stella left the room.

Stella had no idea how she was going to finish school and get her country in order. Or just get herself back in order after the emotional roller coaster she has been on. She had to face it though, there was no backing down because she was now Queen of Solaria.


	14. Chapter 14

It was now springtime in Magix as well as on Solaria and the birds were chirping outside of Stella's window. She woke up and put on her robe, then walked to the shower. It was 9 in the morning and she was excited to start her day for once.

She had spent that last months setting up a new representative government on Solaria and was officially crowned Queen last month. Peace was slowly returning to Solaria and she was able to return to Alfea. The other winx girls helped her catch up with all of her work and she finally felt like she had a normal life.

Of course, it really was never going to be like it was before. Her mother was still in a coma and she visited her from time to time, and her father was no longer around, making her family strained and more distant. But Brandon was helping her get used to this new life.

He was there with her every step of the way, supporting her and being her rock. She did not know how he possibly wanted to stay with her after what she put him through, but she was glad he stayed because she did not know how she could survive without him.

Everything was finally peaceful in her life now, she thought as she stepped into the shower. Today she was going to just relax at Alfea and get some homework done. Brandon had also planned a date for them that she was excited for because they rarely got to have alone time.

The tabloids had been all over their relationship now that she was the Queen and seemed to not be happy that she was not married yet, but she didn't want to rush anything, plus she wanted to wait until Brandon was ready and Solaria was stable.

But she wouldn't mind getting married soon, in fact, she would actually love it. However she decided that she just needed to live in the present after the events of the past few months and was not going to get carried away with wedding thoughts for now.

She took her time showering and getting dressed and then sat down at her desk and began to write her magical history essay. She could not stay forcused though and kept getting distracted by listening to music and the other girls who were not exactly being loud, but were loud enough to break her concentration. She only had two paragraphs written when Brandon knocked on her balcony door.

"Just a minute!" She yelled. She shut her laptop and closed her notes. She then grabbed her sweater since it was still a bit chilly out even though it was the end of March and then she opened the door.

"Hey babe!" Brandon said. He hugged her and then kissed her.

"How has your weekend been?" He said after he let her go.

"Stressful, I still have a majority of my history essay to write."

"Want me to let you go do that?"

"No! I need a break and just some relaxing time since yesterday was dedicated to meetings and travel time" Stella said.

"As long as you're sure!"

"So what do you have planned for us this afternoon?"

"Just a trip to Magix if you are up for that."

"Of course I am!"

They then got onto his hover bike and drove to downtown Magix where Stella shopped and Brandon graciously held her bags for a few hours and bought her a few things as well.

Once they were done shopping, Brandon took her out to eat at one of the nicest restaurants in Magix where they just talked about everything besides politics or Stella's broken family or hectic life. That is what she liked best about Brandon, he didn't bother her about all the dramatic things going on in her life.

They finally went back to Alfea as the sun was beginning to set.

"I had a great time with you snookums. Thanks for taking today off!" Stella told Brandon. He still worked at Sky's bodyguard, but Sky was understanding of Brandon's requests to have days off to be with Stella.

"Anytime for you sweetheart."

"When will I see you again?"

"I don't know, probably soon. Stella, before you go, I need to talk to you about something. I..well…I just want you to know that you mean the world to me. When we were broken up, I couldn't function. You are my sun and I don't want to be with anyone else besides you for the rest of my life. So, what I'm trying to get at here" he said as he began to get down on one knee "is that, Stella Queen of Solaria, I know that I am nowhere near worthy of your status and you have every right to deny me, but will you marry me?"

Brandon held out a gorgeous diamond ring with a gold tint to it because of the bright sun set. Stella could not believe that he was proposing when she was just thinking about it this morning. She did not hesitate in answering though, and said,

"Yes! I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you!"

"Are you sure it won't be a problem because, well because I'm not royalty?" Brandon asked. This was the thing that he was always afraid of when he started dating Stella, how serious their relationship could be.

"I'm the Queen and I can marry whoever I want, and I want you!" Stella said. She was beginning to tear up because she was so happy that he wanted to marry her and that she was going to get married to the prince of her dreams.

Brandon then took her left hand and put the ring on her ring finger.

"Oh it's so beautiful Brandon!" Stella exclaimed.

"And so are you." Brandon said. Stella jumped into his arms and they kissed as he spun her around. They hugged one last time and they then parted, making plans to start planning the wedding for late July over video chat and in person the next weekend when she would visit Eraklion. For now though, she had to go finish her History essay.

She was just finishing up her essay and about to start proofreading it at eleven at night when Musa walked into her room and came over to her desk.

"Hey can I talk to you about something?" Musa asked.

"Sure! Anything!" Stella said. She closed her laptop and turned towards Musa.

"I don't know what to do about Riven, he is going through a rough time with his dad and I don't know how to deal with it. I mean I know how to deal with loss and all because of my mom, but this situation is completely different and I just thought-" she was saying when she noticed Stella's left hand.

"Wait, what is that on your hand!" Musa yelled.

"What? Don't you want to finish your story?" Stella asked, pulling back her hand. She didn't want to tell any of her friends about her engagement until she finished her homework so they would have time to talk about it.

Musa grabbed Stella's hand though and saw the ring up close.

"Oh. My. God. Did Brandon ask you to marry him?" Musa said, trying to hold back her excitement.

"Yes he did, and I said yes! We are getting married in July!" Stella said, unable to hold back her excitement any longer. She had wanted to tell everyone, but was really trying to be a responsible student.

"Girls come in here! Stella has some big news!" Musa yelled out of Stella's door.

The rest of the girls came in, a bit disgruntled since they were also doing their own homework or just relaxing.

"Well guys, today Brandon asked me to marry him!" Stella said. She put her hand out in front of her to show the girls her ring.

"That's so exciting Stella!" Bloom said. She ran over to her and hugged her. The other girls also rushed over to get a closer look at the ring.

"Aw how beautiful! He has really good taste!" Flora said.

"How did he ask you?" Tecna asked.

Stella then told them about their romantic day together and how he asked on her balcony and that the sunset made it romantic and how he made her feel like she was the luckiest girl in the world.

"Well I'd say that you are!" Musa said.

The girls then spend the rest of the night discussing wedding plans and looking up gowns online and in some of the magazines Stella got on a monthly basis just because she was so into fashion. Stella had never been happier, her life was finally looking up and she could not wait to start a new chapter with Brandon once she was finished with her current one at Alfea.


	15. Chapter 15

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Stella was inside her room getting ready with the help of the other winx girls who were all her bridesmaids and was excited that the day was finally here for her fairytale wedding to happen.

She had finally graduated Alfea a month ago with the other girls and had spend most of her last days there going back and forth between Solaria and Alfea because the planet was still being stabilized.

It seemed to grow more peaceful with her marriage announcement though. The fact that she was marrying someone far below her social status proved to many of the previous rebels that she was not a stuck up Queen who only cared about the frivolous things in life. They fully supported the marriage and clearly were going to recognize Brandon as their King, despite Stella's parents previous opinions on how he would be received.

Peace was finally returning to Solaria, and the perfect way to usher it in was a party in Stella's opinion. The entire planet had off that day to celebrate not just her marriage, but their own and their relationships of their own. They were not required to watch hers or expected to, but Stella wanted it to be a day of happiness and relaxation for all.

Planning the wedding had not been easy, but all of her friends helped her with the details like booking a band, which was easy because Musa conveniently could lead one. It also helped that all of the winx girls each had talent in certain aspects of a wedding such as flowers and organization.

"Stella! Hold still, I don't want to burn your head!" Bloom said.

Stella was getting anxious already.

"I can't help it! I just want to get out there and do this!"

"Not looking like that! And we still have a lot of time before the ceremony actually starts" Tecna said.

"I'm just too excited!" Stella exclaimed. She wanted to put on her dress that she had picked out and helped alter along with some of the most famous fashion designers in Magix.

"Just relax and enjoy the day, it will go by fast and soon you'll be looking back and wondering where the time went!" Flora said.

"Well, I just want the festivities to begin." Stella said as she tried to sit still as Bloom continued to curl her hair.

"So, other than excited, how are you feeling?" Musa asked.

"Like I just want it to be the reception already because I want to have a party! I can't wait to finally be married and be officially married to Brandon and have him become king."

"Well I hope all of the decorations are to your liking as well as the food, Tecna and I worked really hard on them!" Layla said from the other side of the room. The rest of the girls were also in the process of doing their hair and getting ready for the big day.

"I'm sure I will, thank you guys again for all of your hard work, I really appreciate it." Stella responded.

After another hour of getting ready, the girls were all finally dressed and ready for the ceremony to start. The photographer took a few pictures of them together before they went to the court yard where the wedding was being held.

It was being broadcast all throughout the magic dimension as it was one of the highlighted events of the year with the publicity Solaria got with the revolution and the fact that Stella was one of the most famous princesses and now Queens in the dimension. That was the only part that made Stella nervous, the fact that everyone could see her nervousness or see her mess up if she forgot her vows.

"Stella, you'll be fine, I promise!" Bloom said to her as they were waiting for the wedding march to begin. Each winx girl was escorted down the isle with their boyfriend one by one and Bloom and Sky were the last to go since they were the only other royal couple, and the bride and grooms best friends.

"What if I forget something?" Stella said in a panic.

"You won't! And if you get nervous, just look into Brandon's eyes and I'm sure the words will come to your mouth, or something special will. He helped you through everything else and I'm sure he won't stop helping you now!"

"Oh, you're right! Thanks Bloom, for everything!" Stella said. They hugged and then it was Bloom and Sky's time to go out. Stella then prepared herself and walked up to the doors where she would go through.

"Are you ready your majesty?" a deep male voice said.

Since Stella's father was not able to give her away and the rest of the specialists were paired with their girlfriends in the bridal party, Bloom's dad graciously volunteered to escort Stella if she wanted to. Stella accepted since she was relatively close to Blooms parents and since she sort of attributed to her and Brandon really meeting for the first time at Mike and Vanessa's house.

"Of course Mike! Thank you so much for doing this for me!" Stella said.

"Anytime, you are like a second daughter to Vanessa and I. We owe Bloom's happiness to you" he responded as he held out his hand.

She took it and then the doors swung open. As they walked she noticed how beautiful the day was and how it was warm, but not too warm. Everyone was staring at her and that made her nervous, but she remembered Bloom's advice and she looked straight ahead of her and saw Brandon in a smooth black tuxedo looking very handsome and sexy.

Soon enough, she was at the front of the isle right next to Brandon and Mike was already sitting down next to Vanessa in the large crowd of people.

The minister was talking, but Stella was not really paying attention to him, she was just looking at Brandon and he was smiling right back at her.

"This moment is perfect" she thought and realized as all of the bad things that had recently happened escaped her mind and all she could focus on was being able to spend the rest of her life with Brandon.

"It is now time for the vows, which Stella and Brandon have written themselves" the minister said.

"Stella, ever since I first saw you, you were the most beautiful girl I thought I had ever seen. I never thought that you would talk to me though, but when you did, I then thought I was the luckiest guy to land a couple dates with you and actually was able to date you. We have been through a lot, and I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be with me anymore after I lied to you about who I was and the fact that I wasn't the prince you thought I was. But you stuck with me for some crazy reason, and I am so grateful for that. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I have realized over the past year that I cannot live without you, and I want to spend each and every day with you for the rest of my life."

Brandon's speech was starting to make tears well up in Stella's eyes, and she secretly cursed him for his smoothness and ability to make her choke up before she had to say hers. But then she looked back at him and thought about when they first met and she found her words again and was able to start speaking.

"You were the first boy that I ever really too seriously as a boyfriend for a long term relationship, and that is because you are such a great person and you make me a better person. You don't care about any of my imperfections and my mood swings. I love the way you don't treat me differently because I'm royalty, and the fact that you can deal with me in the mornings when I'm grouchy and unpleasant. You have helped me through so much the past year and I don't know how I could have come through it all whole without you and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you" Stella said while trying to hold back tears of happiness. Brandon squeezed her hand and they stood holding hands looking at each other until they heard "you many now kiss the bride".

Brandon pulled her into him and kissed her for what seemed like an eternity, and the crowd went wild. They then broke apart and waved into the crowd and walked down the isle out of the courtyard to the area where they would take more posed pictures with the photographer before the reception and party.

* * *

The dinner was just ending and Musa got up on stage with a couple of her friends from Melody who were going to serve as the band for the wedding.

"Hey everyone! My name is Musa and behind me are the rockers and we are going to be your entertainment tonight!"

The crowd cheered and clapped for them and when they quieted down, Musa said "But first thing is the first dance for the bride and groom so get out here you two!" she motioned to Stella and Brandon who slowly got up and went to the middle of the dance floor.

"This one's for you guys!" Musa said.

The musicians started playing and Musa began singing a slow song from one of her favorite Earth musicals she discovered on their vacation there the past summer:

*"Never knew I could feel like this

Like I've never seen the sky before

Want to vanish inside your kiss

Everyday I love you more and more

Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings

Telling me to give you everything

Seasons may change winter to spring

But I love you until the end of time

Come what may, come what may

I will love you until my dying day

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace

Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste

It all revolves around you

And there's no mountain too high no river too wide

Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side

Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide

But I love you until the end of time

Come what may, come what may

I will love you until my dying day

Oh come what may, come what may

I will love you

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place...

Come what may, come what may

I will love you until my dying day"

As she was singing, Riven couldn't believe how beautiful her voice was and how pretty the song was. More importantly, he noticed how beautiful Musa looked up on stage in her natural element.

During the song, Stella and Brandon had a special moment just dancing with each other and not noticing the other guests in the room. Stella could not believe that she was standing there dancing with Brandon to that beautiful song.

"I'm so glad you took me back, I don't know what I would do without you." Stella said as they were dancing.

"I don't know what I would do without you either. Like I said last summer, our love is strong and can handle anything and look where we are now!" Brandon said. They kissed and the song ended. Everyone clapped and Musa and the band began to play more upbeat music and others joined Stella and Brandon on the dance floor.

An hour or so went by and Musa took a break while the band continued to play without her. She went over to where Riven was sitting alone.

"Hey there! Why aren't you talking to anyone?" She said.

"Not really anyone to talk to, except you of course" he said. This made Musa blush a little and she sat down next to him.

"Can I talk to you somewhere a little more quiet?" Riven asked.

"Sure!"

They moved outside where the stars were glowing and the wind was slightly chilly. There were plants all around and a beautiful fountain in this particular court yard of the party place.

"Sorry for all the drama going on recently, I didn't reall mean to involve you in it" Riven began to say when Musa interrupted.

"I really don't mind it, in fact, I want you to open up to me and ask me for help or be there for you. You are usually there for me and that's what relationships are for." Musa said as she took his hand. They were sitting on the edge of the fountain.

"Doesn't this water remind you of that night we swam in the lake?"

"Yeah, it kind of does." Musa said. She was reminded of skinny dipping with Riven and the romantic night they had together that really officially started their somewhat rocky relationship.

"I hope to have more nights like that with you, and well, I'm not really good at all of this romantic stuff and all, but Musa, I know that you are the only girl who I want to be with and who will put up with all of my crap, and after I heard and saw you up on stage, you are just so perfect for me, so, well, I'm just asking, Will you marry me?" He said as he slowly inched down onto his one knee and had pulled out a stunning ring.

Musa was speechless. She was not expecting this at all, especially from Riven. Of course she loved him and really always had and did not think about any other guys, but she didn't ever realize he was ready for this kind of commitment. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry Musa, I didn't mean to make you cry" Riven began to say as he got back up but she pushed him back down on his knees.

"No! Don't be! I accept! I want to marry you! I'm just so…so…surprised!" Musa said as the tears began to roll out of her eyes. She tried to stop though because she knew Riven hated it when she cried and she was successful.

He slipped the ring onto her hand and they stood up and kissed.

"You know what? Now wouldn't be such a bad time for a swim!" Riven said.

"Riven! No! You better not!" he then picked her up and jumped into the fountain with her and held onto her the entire time they were submerged and then came back up to the surface.

They were both laughing and kissing each other off and on when they heard someone approaching.

"There they are! What the hell are you doing in there?" Sky's voice echoed throughout the courtyard.

"Just taking a swim pretty boy." Riven said as Musa and him climbed out of the fountain. Musa did a quick air drying spell and their clothes were back to good as new.

"Bloom, guess what!" Musa said as she held up her hand.

"Oh My God! Riven, it's so pretty! Congratulations you two!" Bloom said. She ran over to Musa and hugged her. Riven had a wide smile on his face because the girls never seemed to approve of him.

"Wow, congrats man. You guys are really starting to put the pressure on me though." Sky said to Riven.

"Didn't want you to steal my thunder dude, plus now is just a good time for both of us I think" Riven said.

"We have to go in and tell the others!" Musa said.

"Well we came out here to get you for the flower toss! Come on or we'll miss it!" bloom said.

They quickly went back into the ball room where Stella was on the stage and was about ready to throw her flowers.

"Come on girls!" She said when she saw Bloom and Musa running into the room.

They joined the crowd and there was a count down "Three, Two, One!" and Stella threw them.

Somehow, Musa managed to catch them even though she was in the very back of the crowd and everyone looked towards her.

"Oh yay Musa!" Stella exclaimed. The music then began again and Stella climbed off stage and went over to Musa.

"Well, I guess this myth might be true!" Musa said and then held out her hand to Stella.

"Ohhh so pretty! I'm so happy for you, and for everyone! Tonight has been perfect!"

The rest of the girls looked at Musa ring and had a fun time dancing together until it was time for Brandon to throw the garter.

Stella sat on a chair and put her leg up on another one. Brandon slowly took the garter off of her leg and then flung it into the crowd of men behind him and it clumsily landed on Timmy's ear.

Tecna blushed and laughed. "Well, maybe the match up isn't correct, but hopefully someday he'll propose to me."

"I'm sure he will in no time Tecna, everyone is so in love and it's just so exciting we have another wedding to plan and we will be able to spend loads of time with each other still even though we graduated!" Flora said.

"No matter what, we'll always be together!"

Musa then went back onto the stage to continue performing with the band and took time out to dance with Riven as well, even though he wasn't too big on a lot of dancing. The specialists and the girls spend the evening dancing and having a great time with each other, with the confidence that they would always be linked together as friends for the rest of their lives.

"As long as our love is strong right Stel?" Brandon asked as they sat in the transport that was taking them on their honeymoon in the resort realm.

"It will always be strong darling" She said and smiled at him. Brandon grabbed her cheek and kissed her and then held her hand as they landed in a beautiful meadow surrounded by a resort and a beach in the far off distance.

* * *

_*The Song **Come What May** from Moulin Rouge_

___I just want to thank everyone who continued to read this. It took a good three years for me to finish, but I'm glad I did. I first wrote this story when I was in middle school and didn't really understand anything about love or relationships. A few years ago I reread it and was not really happy with it so I decided to rewrite the whole thing and it ended up being a lot different than the original, especially because I took a two year hiatus from winx club and didn't finish it until now. Despite this, I am happy with the way it turned out because of how it is more mature than the original and more serious. Anyways, thanks for putting up with the longevity of some of the chapters (including this one) and just how long it took to finally get the story done. I plan to start a new winx club fan fiction soon (not a sequel to this one) so be on the look out for that one though!_

_xoxo, lateeda18_


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